Tuesday, September 30

The Great Raccoon Caper

We have suspected that we have a raccoon (or more) living in our tree for quite some time. Now that we have a fence, it has pretty much confirmed my suspicion. Now that dogs can't get in, something else has to be leaving "gifts" in our backyard. Then last week Abby called me over to show me some tracks she found on our fabric pop-up playhouse that the wind blew onto the grass that previous evening...yep, they were raccoon tracks.


So I asked our back neighbor if we could borrow his live trap. He brought it over, complete with bait (cat food), and showed me how to use it. We set it at the base of the tree. Voila! The next morning there was a raccoon in the trap! Now what?


What a cute little face!


After breakfast we skipped school and had a field trip instead! We put the coon in the back of our van. They truly don't smell very nice, I must say. Then we drove to a favorite local lake. We found a path leading into the brush and trees, and set him free there. As soon as the trap was opened, he took off into the blackberry bushes so fast we could hardly see him. Whew, I was glad that was over with.



So afterwards I took the kids to a nearby park that they love and let them play for several hours. Then we came home, added more bait, and reset the trap. Stay tuned...

3 comments:

Darcy said...

Oh my gosh, he's so cute!!!! Why did you want to catch him and relocate?? He tearing stuff up???

Kim said...

I know, they really are cute!! They weren't tearing stuff up...yet. But I was tired of picking up their droppings (a lot for such little guys), and we were told a few years ago when Abby was so sick for a month that they carry parasites quite often. Abby will pick up ANYTHING, so I just didn't want to worry about that.

Darcy said...

I don't blame you then, cause you're right, with Abby, or any kids around, you just never know. LOL.

 

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