Happy Birthday Coons as pets

[kenya]

So pretty sure I had a raccoon living with my silkies, eating my cat food. It was outside one day and I tried to chase it off and it kept coming back.Not really afraid of me nor were the chickens or the cat afraid of it. Finally my husband using the tractor scared it off. The only damage it seems to have done is eat the eggs the silkies were sitting on. I'm just glad it didn't eat the silkies. How weird is that! My husband has since blocked off were it was getting in. Hopefully it stays away.

[Kbr42]

Awww, it sounds like it need to live with your silkies.....who wouldn't

[kenya]

I knew I was feeding extras but I thought it was the neighbourhood cats they all come here to eat. At least it wasn't using the cat door, the cats all do.

[ross]

Careful lots a rabies this year in some areas never mind that even hand raised become nasty as get older . MNRF spreading bait a lot .

[windwalkingwolf]

Lots of people find displaced baby raccoons in their sheds or whatever and end up raising them as pets. Wildlife rescues won't take them.
They're adorable, and easy to keep alive when orphaned, unlike other babies like rabbits. They're cute, for a little while. Then, after the babies hit a certain age and start becoming a household disruption, they get tossed out and go looking for their own territory and other handouts. Instead of mice, frogs, roots and bugs, they stick around human habitations and rip apart garbage and chickens.
Yes, it's weird that they haven't eaten your chickens yet. No, it won't last.
I'm glad you've blocked it out.
They're perfectly capable, even after being raised in a house, of feeding themselves with what is available in the wild. There's PLENTY for them to eat in swamps and fields, and plenty of territory for them to each find their own without coming on mine or yours.

[ross]

Make good vegan suppers too .

[kenya]

The neighbour is going to shoot it if it comes around again. I hate to say this but they carry too many diseases and it can't be living here, I feel bad but I made it plain it was not welcome. I was floored it didn't eat the chickens but I was counting on my broodies to raise my chicks hatching now in the incubator, but of course they are no longer broodie.

[ross]

FYI

[labradors]

It's good that you posted that Ross.

I helped a skunk once that was wearing a glass bottle around its neck. It bit me for my trouble and it dawned on me that it could possibly have transmitted rabies, so I went to the hospital where they gave me the first of a series of five rabies shots...…...

[kenya]

At least the shots aren't as bad as they used to be, but they carry a lot of other diseases as well and I don't want the dog anywhere near it.