No good deed…
A woman in Poulsbo, Washington thought “It’s fun to feed raccoons.” They will eat pet food right out of a bowl, and they will be cute about it. They sit there, with their little hands, and they pick up the food. They will eat almost anything, and if there’s water nearby, they might dunk the food in the water. They’ll come back every night for your viewing pleasure. Great, right? While it may be fun to feed raccoons, it’s not a nice thing to do. The woman who fed neighborhood raccoons for decades called “911” after coming home to find more than 100 of the fuzzy masked invaders preventing her from getting inside. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and said the woman told them she had been feeding the animals from her Poulsbo home for 35 years without incident. That is, until six weeks ago, when the population “exploded,” resulting in dozens of the ringtailed bandits surrounding her suburban property last week day and night “demanding food.” The deputies were “shocked” to see so many raccoons in one place. Somehow the word got out in raccoon land, and they all showed up at her house expecting a meal,” he added. “Nobody ever remembers being surrounded by a swarm of raccoons. This was a first.” Fortunately, nobody was reported bitten or scratched by the animals, which are known for carrying diseases like rabies and roundworm. The woman’s neighbors, however, were less-than-thrilled with the growing menagerie. The sheriff’s office said the incident is a textbook example of why people are discouraged from feeding wild animals.
Wendy Cronk, who lives nearby. explained. “I’ve had several raccoons in the yard recently. My dogs have gotten in a scuffle several times with a raccoon. I’ve even had to take one of my dogs to the vet after tussling with a raccoon. And I’ve also noticed there’s been a lot more hit raccoons up on the main road here,” she said. “I just hope that somebody steps in and helps her take care of this problem … and hopefully she’ll quit doing it,” she lamented. McCarty said the woman told deputies she had been in contact with a trapping organization to curtail the rapidly growing population, but she was quoted a whopping $500-a-pop to have them removed. The Kitsap County Sheriff’s office directed the homeowner to contact the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to deal with the problem.
“It’s pretty simple: Don’t feed wild animals. When wild animals have a reliable food source, they’re going to keep coming back to it. And that’s what these raccoons did until the number of raccoons expecting a meal got out of hand.” Although adorable, raccoons can cause serious destruction if left to their own devices. A Brooklyn family found this out the hard way last week when a gang of the critters ran roughshod on their $1.2 million home, pooping and peeing everywhere and causing over $100,000 worth of damage — which their insurance company isn’t covering.
Raccoon rants
So I saw my crazy neighbor talking to her raccoon. She was looking at it like she thought it understood.
When I got home, I told this story to my dog and we both laughed.
I called Animal Welfare today and said, “I’ve just found a suitcase in the woods containing four baby racoons.”
“That’s terrible,” she replied, “We’re they moving?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest,” I said, “but if they were that would explain the suitcase.”
Nike once did animal testing on their shoes
None of them fit.
If I could be a racoon for one day,
I think I’d choose a Thursday.
October 10th Birthdays
1989 – Rose Mc Iver, 1978 – Andrea Navedo, 1990 – Aimee Teegarden, 1950 – Nora Roberts
1970 – Dale Earnhart, Jr. 1983 – Dan Stevens, 1969 – Brett Favre, 1955 – David Lee Roth