Love Animals, but Racoons In a Trap?

[CopperSkink]

Introduce some wild rocking chairs; that should put them back on-edge.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Introduce some wild rocking chairs; that should put them back on-edge.

LOL, CS. Animal Control came by today to pick up the trap. Nice guys. Wouldn't want to see what they routinely deal with, however. Caught seven of them in all (raccoons, that is). Momma and a cub, then the dad, then two cubs, another cub, and finally the runt.

I am an adult educator and had a student who shared, upon my sharing this story, that he paid $500 for a "pro" to rid his yard of a few racs. Liking I saved that $$

 

[CopperSkink]

I'm not terribly happy with Animal Control lately. At least the local Humane Society isn't governmentally sanctioned yet; all they can do when they come over if they don't like something is tell stories on us to Animal Control, but Animal Control has told us time and time again that as long as it looks like we've cleaned the kennel in the last day (nevermind the last week; don't ask) and the dogs have water and no shit sticking to them, we're in good shape.

Anyway.

Times are tough here in the Bay, one of the more expensive places to live in the world on account of higher costs of living with lower income. In the past years where income is dropping and jobs are simply disappearing, people have been moving out. And more often than not, they have to give up their dogs.

Animal Control doesn't just let you surrender your dog anymore. There's a fee of several hundred dollars when you're already out of money and all the rescue groups are too full or out of money themselves if you even have a breed of dog they'll take (don't do Furry Friends; they don't pay their bills). Effectively, Animal Control is promoting the practice of abandoning the family dog on the streets because it's simply too expensive to keep or re-home.

And once in a blue moon they send someone up to our kennel who has fake nails and dyed hair and soft smooth skin, someone who's obviously never touched a dog in her life going to tell us whether we're looking after dogs correctly. Ain't that about a bitch?

 

[AsylumSeeker]

I'm So Sorry

I'm not terribly happy with Animal Control lately. At least the local Humane Society isn't governmentally sanctioned yet; all they can do when they come over if they don't like something is tell stories on us to Animal Control, but Animal Control has told us time and time again that as long as it looks like we've cleaned the kennel in the last day (nevermind the last week; don't ask) and the dogs have water and no shit sticking to them, we're in good shape.

Anyway.

Times are tough here in the Bay, one of the more expensive places to live in the world on account of higher costs of living with lower income. In the past years where income is dropping and jobs are simply disappearing, people have been moving out. And more often than not, they have to give up their dogs.

Animal Control doesn't just let you surrender your dog anymore. There's a fee of several hundred dollars when you're already out of money and all the rescue groups are too full or out of money themselves if you even have a breed of dog they'll take (don't do Furry Friends; they don't pay their bills). Effectively, Animal Control is promoting the practice of abandoning the family dog on the streets because it's simply too expensive to keep or re-home.

And once in a blue moon they send someone up to our kennel who has fake nails and dyed hair and soft smooth skin, someone who's obviously never touched a dog in her life going to tell us whether we're looking after dogs correctly. Ain't that about a bitch?

Is she cute? Sorry, had to ask, lol. Seriously, I feel your pain. Luckily where I am, in the breadbasket of the country, we're less affected by the lousy economy. To the best of my knowledge I believe you can still surrender an animal, or even a newborn human for that matter, over to the "state".

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Never mind.

 

[CopperSkink]

Balls. I used to live in the salad bowl, me.

Cute? Let me think about that. No.

I'm sure she can turn a few heads just to look at her, but a woman being a total bitch makes her unappealing no matter what she looks like. Take Halle Berry for example.

 

[Naughty_Misty]

LOL, CS. Animal Control came by today to pick up the trap. Nice guys. Wouldn't want to see what they routinely deal with, however. Caught seven of them in all (raccoons, that is). Momma and a cub, then the dad, then two cubs, another cub, and finally the runt.

I am an adult educator and had a student who shared, upon my sharing this story, that he paid $500 for a "pro" to rid his yard of a few racs. Liking I saved that $$

Wow... I am not an animal expert, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but isn't that an unusually high number? For some dumb reason (blame it on too many episodes of Billy the Exterminator) I thought raccoons traveled solo.

I've seen first hand the amount of damage that one little raccoon can do. My brother in Illinois had one get in his garage while I was visiting him and HOLY CATS what a mess!!! It even got the fridge door open and ransacked it as well! It makes me have a whole new appreciation for my rattlesnakes, scorpions, and roadrunners.

 

[sr71plt]

A neighbor has suggested I've been maligning the raccoons (although I really have seen them in the yard at night) for raiding our fish pond of koi. He says he watched a heron harvest koi from his pond this past week--in the daylight.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Wow... I am not an animal expert, so forgive me if this is a stupid question, but isn't that an unusually high number? For some dumb reason (blame it on too many episodes of Billy the Exterminator) I thought raccoons traveled solo.

I've seen first hand the amount of damage that one little raccoon can do. My brother in Illinois had one get in his garage while I was visiting him and HOLY CATS what a mess!!! It even got the fridge door open and ransacked it as well! It makes me have a whole new appreciation for my rattlesnakes, scorpions, and roadrunners.

Good question, but I *honestly* am not kidding or fudging the numbers. Seven were caught, an entire family, and relocated on the edge of town. Check Wikipedia. It was first thought that they were solo, but more has been discovered about them since. The only thing I contest Wikipedia about is the "dousing", as they say this occurs only in captivity, yet the muddy drinking water proves otherwise. Their (paws?) are rough unless wet and so they prefer to make them wet, or so I have read. Also forget about the nocturnal part, they're out and about all times of the day.

Funny what you can learn "the hard way".

Okay, back to Wheel of Fortune. There's this really cute chick cleaning house, and she's doing the bonus round! Hoping she bends forward, flashes her boobs, lol. Yeah, I'm a pathetic example of a man, I'll freely admit.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Damn, missed a potential "peek"!

 

[AsylumSeeker]

A neighbor has suggested I've been maligning the raccoons (although I really have seen them in the yard at night) for raiding our fish pond of koi. He says he watched a heron harvest koi from his pond this past week--in the daylight.

So perhaps they are innocenr scapegoats?

 

[sr71plt]

So perhaps they are innocenr scapegoats?

Maybe innocent "scapecoons"? I doubt that an innocent raccoon exists, however.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Maybe innocent "scapecoons"? I doubt that an innocent raccoon exists, however.

Just putting it out there, lol. I've always, previous to this, thanks to Hollywood movies, thought they were cute and cuddly. Now noticing that ground beneath which I set the trap cage was torn up to hell. Not so nice.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Balls. I used to live in the salad bowl, me.

Cute? Let me think about that. No.

I'm sure she can turn a few heads just to look at her, but a woman being a total bitch makes her unappealing no matter what she looks like. Take Halle Berry for example.

Seriously, Halle Berre? This chick looks this good? Fuck -- er, uhm -- make love to her sideways, and then cast her aside, lol.

Maybe she prefers raccoons. Soft and cuddly.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Another One!!!

Dang, went out back this morning to feed cats, another raccoon! Small, a cub the size of a cat, but if there's a cub there's sure to be more. Have to check out a cage again. Here we go again!

 

[CopperSkink]

I are animal expert, and I charge one-fifty an hour on making a home visit. If I was doing something like trapping a posse of possums, I might put a cap price of about five hundo, but I'd be nice and throw in an extra visit to pick up any stragglers.

And lol at roadrunners; wish we had them here. Here it's also rattlesnakes (killed ten of the fuckers myself and I still haven't gotten my woman to make me a belt) and peacocks. The rattlesnakes eat the mice (had fun squeezing one out of a headless reptile) and the peacocks eat the rattlesnakes, but the peacocks climb on your car and harbgarble at the buttcrack of dawn and rotate like giant satallite dishes on various rooftops which distracts my customers when I'm trying to talk money. The fucking neighbors feed them.

Almost got bit by a rattlesnake once. Rescue people came by to look at one of their dogs, and the dog got away from them. I had to chase that bitch (female dog) down the street for thirty minutes just for her to run straight to the dumb lady who could finally be bothered to go get her herself after making me sweat in the heat. Upon retaking the dog and walking back up my driveway, I stopped to put an end to a baby rattlesnake.
Having no tools nearby and holding an idiot pulling dog, I ended up pinning its head down with my sandal. While looking for a rock big and sharp to decrapitate it, I noticed I'd let go of the dog, which was then trapsing back down the hill to be recovered by the neighbors that feed the peacocks. He would later attempt to scold me for being careless with the dog, and while trying to get him off my fucking back I got careless with the rattlesnake. Luckily I do what all brave young men do when faced with things with scary teeth: I flailed like a girl, and it disappeared into the brush.
Anybody else hate their neighbors? Even trying to explain that I'm at risk to getting killed to death by fast-acting rattlesnake poison (babies aren't as careful with their venom of course), the guy is talking right over me like getting fatally bitten pales in comparison to making him pause watering his dead (and rather ugly) yard plants to have to grab an escaping dog.
A week later I spotted that same damn snake in the same spot. After I cut its head off, I was rewarded with getting to slide a swallowed mouse out of it; that was super fun.

 

[AsylumSeeker]

Luckily I do what all brave young men do when faced with things with scary teeth: I flailed like a girl, and it disappeared into the brush.

LOL. I tend to be a wuss when it comes to things like unfamilar animals, and I hate spiders and snakes with a passion.

Upon rethinking what I'd seen and returning to Wikipedia I now think my initial assumption that the animal in the yard was a raccoon was incorrect. I now firmly believe it was an opossum (possums are found "down under", but here they are called opossums, a little trivia there courtesy of Wikipedia).

Waiting to see what becomes of this new mess. Damn, and I live in the city!