Perhaps...

Friday, July 21, 2006

Add to the list

3 raccoons.

We accidentally left a bag of birdseed outside last night and when we woke up this morning it looked like it exploded all over the patio. We thought it may have been the squirrels, because we have a lot of them.

Tonight we spotted (well, Kitsch spotted) three raccoons eating birdseed right in front of the glass doors downstairs. They weren't scared of the lights when I turned them on to see them better and they weren't scared if I tapped on the glass. I think they must be the most fearless wildlife I've seen yet.

I love having them around and certainly don't mind them in the yard... but I do worry a bit about having them so close to the house. I read somewhere that if they associate your house with food and then don't find it there one day, they will tear their way into the house... I don't want anything like that to happen. The same website suggested feeding them, but doing it a distance from the house. I think we will start leaving a little spread of treats for them on random days, down at the bottom of the hill, away from the house. Two of them were youngsters and one was a big fella.

We also have a skitterish groundhog in the yard.

1 Comments:

At 2:36 PM, Blogger Abs said...

OMG, Steph, DO NOT FEED THE RACCOONS.
Raccoons do not need feeding by people, and living where you do, you don't have to worry about them a bit in terms of what's available to them. They are perfectly capable of feeding themselves.
They may be cute, but they are invasive...they used to rip into our garage and live there, eating the cats' food. If you feed them, even away from the house, they'll know where it came from.
Just make sure you don't have any food outside for a while, and that your trash cans are bungee-corded shut. They'll move back where they belong.

 

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