Why do raccoons have to be so damn adorable?

[xiphias]

We may have finally trapped the raccoon who has been nesting in our walls on and off for the past several years. If this is the right one, she's had a litter in the walls, we trapped all the babies out, but she escaped and we didn't manage to trap and kill her.

There's a raccoon in the Have-A-Heart trap on the fire escape, waiting for the guy to come and euthanize it. You can't trap and relocate, for a number of reasons, including that it's illegal for fear of spreading disease, and because they'll just come back, and if they DON'T just come back, it's because they were killed by the animals where ever you re-located them, so it's just kinder all around to euthanize them.

But, see. It's RAINING.

There's this pathetically adorable soggy raccoon in a trap outside my house. Waiting to be killed.

I'm just hoping this is the female raccoon with the ear tag. I don't wanna have to have any more raccoons killed. They're just too adorable.

Comments

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

From inside with your windows shut, she looks adorable and bedraggled. But remember, if you open the window and try to take the have-a-heart trap inside, you'll likely get hissed at and swiped at with claws that may carry god knows what.

I agree with you, I hate to euthanize wild animals when it's not their fault that we put them out of their habitats. HOWEVER, without the ability to safely re-locate it, there's not really any other option

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

To be fair -- I didn't put this raccoon out of its habitat: we were here first. But, yeah.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Could you put a cover over the trap?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Too far away, and the guy's already come and removed it and reset the trap.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

/defriends/

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

May I ask why?

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

It may be 'illegal' to relocate wild animals but who is going to catch and prosecute you? The 'animal control' nazis may not like it, but there is no law against buying one's own humane trap and taking the animal elsewhere in one's own car.

I don't want to see stories like this on my flist.

CLosing the window now.

[whuffle.livejournal.com]

Follow-up to this:

I'm not going to take sides here but I will point out that while it may be legal to buy your own trap and transport the animal in your own car, it is NOT legal to release the animal anywhere if you do not have an animal control license.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Although I did do that once -- it was an opossum who had moved into our basement, and was really terrifying our tenants when they tried to do laundry. One day, though, it climbed into a cardboard box -- I happened to be nearby, closed the box, duct-taped the hell out of it, and drove the box to the other end of town and released the possum there.

They're nasty looking beasts, and I was just happy to get it out of my house.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

But, but, they're marsupials! That aren't from Australia! And they know how to really pretend to be dead. That's quite a nifty skill. And hey, I wouldn't mind being able to intimidate someone much bigger than me.

I know; I'm a weirdo. I think tarantulas are cute. I need my own show on Animal Planet. ;-p

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Also -- I'm not clear that it's legal to release it if you DO have an animal control license, unless it's a pet that you accidentally trapped or something like that.

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

Also, I'm sorry your friend de-friended you over this issue. o_O (And used "Nazis" in a really unnecessary and offensive manner. Yikes)

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

And also while opossums are notoriously cowardly, raccoons may come out of the trap set on vengeance. You couldn't pay me enough to let an angry raccoon out of a box.

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

Raccoons, like many mammals, are territorial. Relocating one to a new area will just upset the local order, where it will be attacked and chased from territory to territory until it finally succumbs. Euthanizeing it, while admittedly cruel, is actually the more compassionate option.

[felis-sidus.livejournal.com]

This. Which is why trapping and relocating racoons is illegal in the first place.

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

Just so you know for future, LJ lets you defriend people without having to post a comment announcing it. It's a useful technique to keep your friends page clean of stuff you don't want to read without stirring up drama.

[embryomystic.livejournal.com]

Win.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

How beautifully put.

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Well said.

[jehanna.livejournal.com]

That's really sad.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Leads to alternatives:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS301US305&q=%22raccoon+rescue%22+-flickr&start=20&sa=N

/re-closing window/

[delerium69.livejournal.com]

I wish I could think of something profound and grown-up to say, but all I can think of is I'm sorry. It sucks and it's not fair. But sadly it's the consequence of sometimes colliding with wildlife.

And yeah, I like raccoons too. But then, I like most critters. I'm sorry.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

Well the reason they look so cute is the face mask. If you think about it, just like the spectacles on Byron's face gives him a more human look the mask on the raccoons face does the same thing. They look a lot like cats, and groom them selves the same way.

Also we are programed to want to help animals, any animals in danger. That is way people have risked their lives to get moose out of lakes. Or drag dolphins back into the ocean.

If the raccoon is very young, like not yet weaned it can be hand raised, but a very knowledgeable person. Who has a zoo license. So maybe a wildlife rescuer could take care of it. If not for rabies which is rampant in raccoons you could keep them as pets.

In some areas of the country you can keep raccoons, possums and skunks as pets.

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

Oy. Raccoons make terrible pets. I'm not speaking from personal experience, but of the three or four people I know who have had them, all say they are difficult and destructive. Raccoons are wild animals. They may become tame, but they are NOT domesticated. They may come to understand that if they don't attack you, they get food, but if they don't get food, they may attack in frustration. A wildlife rehabilitator could raise it as best as possible without imprinting on it, but the ultimate goal there would be the animals healthy return to the wild.

[copperpoint.livejournal.com]

That sucks. Unfortunately I think you did the right, though unpleasant, thing.

[cellio]

Aw damn. :-(