Jul
2012
Our New Little Guest
You might have seen on twitter the other day we have a new resident in our backyard. He / She is pictured below.
This is our first “exotic” city animal since moving into the house. We have had mice, bugs, and chipmunks, but this is the first one that neither of us will attempt to capture / fight. I do not mind the little guy / girl hanging out in our tree however one of our dogs is about the same size of the raccoon and lacks the ever important know when to back down trait. That is what you get when you mix a beagle and a terrier together I suppose.
It is very possible that it is a mamma with its babies up there in the tree and I am not gonna go lean a ladder up against the tree and find out. Not only are raccoons very smart they are also very territorial and if provoked or backed into a corner very mean animals. Did I mention they also can carry rabies?
I spent some time calling animal control and the local wildlife and conservation department asking what I could legally do to get rid of this pest. Had I been back home or not in the city I would have “taken care of it”. Animal control said that they were unable to do anything with it because it was not hurt or dead. Nor was it considered to be a “problem” animal. What I did find out is that within the city limits as long as its on your own property you can use a live trap. I also found that the only “humane” way to kill an animal in the city is to drown them. The wildlife and conservation department told me that they would be more than happy to rent me a live trap for a $50 deposit. Outside of that they could not do anything either.
Overall I wasted a nice chunk of time talking to these two departments to tell me that the best course of action is to “leave it alone and it will move on”.
The Saga continues…..
Adam