October 30, 2013
-
Bye Bye, Raccoon...
*sigh*
Well, the other day we were outside playing after school. My daughter went over to play with the kids next door. They kicked the soccer ball over our fence so lucky me had to go get it and throw it back over. In the process of doing that, I spotted something lying in the grass. It certainly looked like an animal, but I was confused! So I go check it out and it's a raccoon! And it wasn't dead. It was alive, but it couldn't move much. It looked pretty sick.
Anywho, after learning that raccoons can be vicious and what not, and I don't really want rabies, I backed away from it.
My mom called the county and they said it had to "distemper" and we should let nature take its course and then, once it died, double bag it and get rid of it.
So she called the city. A police officer came over to take a look and what not.
So he sees the raccoon and he goes, "Oh yeah! Well, this is what is going to happen. I'm going to have to shoot it and unfortunately it has to be done here. Just keep your kids away from the window"
So after retrieving 2 large garbage bags and a shovel (and in the process of getting the shovel, knocking a bunch of stuff down and making a ton of noise), I go inside and eventually hear not one gunshot, but two.
I know it's good the raccoon is not suffering anymore, but dang!
So the nice police officer bagged up the raccoon and put it in his trunk and took it somewhere. and there is a nice pile of dirt in the yard, probably to cover up the blood.
Gotta say, that's a first! I've never been that close to a raccoon and I've never had anything happen like that in my yard!
But still... poor raccoon
Comments (7)
Yes, Poor raccoon. I've always liked them. Kind of cute, and they are intelligent and crafty. I had a baby one walk across my foot many years ago at Girlscout camp as it came in our cabin looking for food, and I had a big pregnant one in the attic of my last house. For that one they said it would go out at night to search for food and then they would board up the hole in my roof to prevent it from returning. She was mad and hissed at the animal welfare people. The landlord wouldn't let me up in the attic to look because of liability if something happened, or so was said. But usually you don't see them out in the day, so I would've also worried about rabies with the one in your yard. Glad noone got bit or scratched.
2 shoots? did he miss the first time? lol
I love wildlife and hate to kill anything I can't eat. But it's better off. No suffering, and it can't pass on whatever disease it had.
I had to chace a couple out of my yard a while back. But it was night so I wasn't too worried about disease. And they certainly weren't moving slow! lol
Raccoons are indeed cute, but they can be very dangerous, especially sick ones. You did the right thing.
Hugs
Sorry to hear. I remmeber growing up one of the rabbits we got had some kind of sickness, maybe cancer if I remmeber and we had to give it back (couldn't afford treatments). We also had a dog that licked up pine sol and started vomiting up blood. It was so sad.
That sucks about the raccoon. Have you ever seen the animated Robin Hood from the 60's? I always get a chuckle out of the raccoon chain gang in that movie.
Poor raccoon! But yes - they can be dangerous. Hugs!