Masked Intruders
Suspicious clues began appearing in my back yard indicating that we were not alone in the use of our property.
Garden equipment was knocked over. Our goldfish pond had been disturbed. The motion detector light kept activating during the night. Finally the intruders showed themselves. It was a pair of raccoons.
Our goldfish are quite agile, plus we have provided them with lots of hiding places. They will be okay. Our turtle is small and much slower. We haven’t seen the turtle for a few days and suspect the worst. He may be a casualty of our new neighbors.
The raccoons have taken up part-time residency, affected by whether or not we remember to lock the gate leading into our back yard. A small stream on the edge of our garden was washing away the roots of a tree trunk on our property and the raccoons feel safe using their new tree stump house.
Earlier this spring I watched a crow unsuccessfully try to chase a raccoon away from its nest.
Several years ago someone freed a pet chickens shortly after Easter to range for food throughout the neighborhood. My neighbor’s wife heard a commotion on her roof early in one morning when the young rooster was being unusually vocal as it emitted terrified cries above her bedroom. She raced into the yard; stark naked, and spotted two raccoons that had the rooster cornered on the edge of the roof. They were getting ready to make their move but the naked neighbor threatened the jesters with her broom yelling, “Go away!” until she chased the raccoons away. If my memory serves me, I gave serious consideration into acquiring a home movie camera about that time.
Years ago I decided to take a late evening stroll along an old logging road on my father’s farm just to see what kind of critters, sights and sounds I might run into during an evening outing. After rambling silently for a few minutes enjoying the tone of a nearby owl’s call, a commotion arose in the woods to my left. I froze and listened. Soon a mother raccoon reached the road about fifty feet in front of me, then walked quickly away from me, followed by her three young kits. Some brush movement closer to me indicated more wildlife. Another young raccoon entered the road and walked right over to me to sniff my tennis shoe. I don’t know if I passed his sniff test or not, since the kit turned around quite leisurely to rejoin its mother and the rest of the family. I still enjoy going out at night, just for the variety of experiences that dark brings.
Upon reflection, I think we will encourage the raccoons to stay.
We won’t feed them and we’ll keep our distance. They can be entertaining animals to observe if you don’t get too close. They can also be hard on chicken, rabbits, fish, birds or even cats in their foraging, but overall I don’t mind them hanging around.
I especially enjoy watching how neighbors react to their presence.
CALLOUT
Another young raccoon entered the road and walked right over to me to sniff my tennis shoe.
