Raccoon(s)!

A few days ago, I glanced out our front door and observed a raccoon eating our cat food, in broad daylight.

Well, THAT wasn't good. First of all, we don't want a raccoon eating our cat food. Secondly, we don't want a raccoon around at all, because raccoons love fresh chicken.  Thirdly, raccoons are supposed to be nocturnal and the fact that this one was wandering around during the day was unnerving.  It looked thin and odd, so rabies was a possibility.

So obviously the raccoon needed to die.  We put some food out in the grass and that evening, Kevin got a shot at it.  He thought he hit it but not right in the body, as it ran off and we never found the body. That was regrettable as of course we don't want any animal to suffer.  It is possible he missed it entirely because...

2 afternoons ago, I looked out on the porch and once again, a raccoon was eating our cat food!  It might have been the same one, maybe a different one.

Again, we put food out in the grass.  About 10:15 p.m., I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep when I realized I was ravenous (yep, that happens when I'm 8 months pregnant.)  So I went downstairs, glanced outside, and Mr. or Mrs. Raccoon was out eating cat food.

This time, Kevin got it right in the body.  It ran about 20 feet and died.  So, problem solved with that one.

We know that at least one raccoon was living under our deck and indeed there may be more.  So we're keeping a close eye on our cat food. 

Our chickens have been Ok, so far.  Thankfully. We lost 9 chickens a year ago to 2 marauding raccoons who figured out how to get into the chicken yard.  Raccoons are smart.