Racoon again

[Marigold2]

It seems like a racoon family is living by my neighbors house. The other day daughter saw two babies in our garage. They have ruined our raspberry patch. Hubby is disappointed since he loves them so but is very understanding about the whole thing. They are also knocking down my sunflowers, knocked down my bird feeder.
I am worried some one might set a trap out and hurt them.
Does any one have experience with this is a develpment?
Will they leave soon or do I have to get traps and move the little sweethearts?
Seems like this is the year of the raccoon for me.

[Bonny]

Marigold, Those little masked bandits are following you everywhere. We have used a live trap but had to haul them many miles away because they did come back when we just took them up the road only 2 miles. They were killling my chickens & hauling off any kittens we had & killing them. They even opened the small chicken coop door & got into the coop & killed my chickens in there. I would keep the garage door closed awhile. I have had them in our garage & attic above the garage. I would take the bird feeder down at night if you don't plan to live trap them. They are after the sunflower seeds so the sunflowers are probably gone. Maybe they will move on if they don't have anything to eat. They sure can make a mess of things in a little bit of time.

[Marigold2]

Little stinkers. I was so proud of my hubby for his understanding on his raspberry bushes. He waited all year for the harvest. Yes I am hoping they will move on. I will talk to my neigbhor tomorrow.
If I use a trap I would take them about 10 miles away so the would not return. Cute and smart that is what they are.
I am sorry to hear about the kittens and chickens. I had no idea they would kill another animal I just thought they ate manly plants and people food that we threw out like cookies and chips.

[Bonny]

With the raspberries your husband could purchase a solar fencer & put up what is called a hot wire. We put two strands of hot wire around our sweet corn to keep the raccoon out. You have to invest in the solar fencer, fencer posts, clamps, & fencer wire. I can understand how your husband feels about his raspberries because mine are starting to produce eatable berries. I also have dogs that will chase the coon off too, but try to keep the dogs in at night so they aren't barking & chasing critters & keeping the neighborhood up.

[Bonny]

Raccoons are opportunists they will eat whatever they can find or kill. One time we had a sow raccoon sucking out the chicken eggs & she left her babies in our cherries trees. The dog started barking in the house so we went out to check. Our older son & I went to the big shed to see if the sow was in there. Our younger son was about 10 years old then & went down the hill to check out the cherry trees & the sow coon was down there & chased him up the hill. His eyes were as big as saucers. LOL! When the raccoons are around you can hear them chattering to each too. The chickens would cackle to let us know when the raccoons were trying to get them.

[momcat]

Hi Marigold,
Sorry to hear that you lost your berry harvest, I love them too. You might want to contact your local wildlife group. There are racoons around here that have tested positive for rabies. Please be careful around these guys, they are known to be carriers.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

and they can be pretty darn vicious when cornered. I've seen many a dog shredded up by 'coons. :eek:

[Queen of Poop]

I think you need to call the local wildlife office and have them trapped and removed. They are carriers of so many diseases and they are so destructive. I'd not wish them on my neighbors.