Sleeping like a baby.
Sometimes my dogs bark at night, but not usually on our deck. We’ve yelled at them enough that they go to the edge of the yard or farther to bark when we’re sleeping. But last night Vegas just wouldn’t quit. I finally dragged myself out of a sound sleep to see if it was a porcupine. To my surprise, a raccoon ambled up the tree on the deck and just looked at me.
Last night around 1 pm
He was still there this morning, and fascination gave way to incredulity as s/he almost came into the house when I opened the door. My first thought was rabies, of course, because whenever I have been places where raccoons are fed dog food on the deck, they still run off and have a fear of humans.
Of course they don't usually pose for me during the day.
My challenge has been getting good pictures of raccoons over the years – I have plenty of bad ones!
I didn’t want Kevin to shoot him, and not just because I don’t want blood all over. As pesky and mean as raccoons can be, they are still beautiful to me. I don’t have an aversion to stuffed, dead animals: I love to look at them because I rarely get the chance to examine them up close. My girlfriend Carol and I used to go to the wild animal pet shop near our house. The owners would let us play with the skunks and walk the ocelot. It was amazing. Later I volunteered at the Minnesota zoo on my days off, and I love the behind-the-scenes exposure to wild animals.
My new cat
Still, this raccoon is in my yard and up on the locker in the garage eating my cats’ food. Damn. It is fall, and he probably isn’t rabid. I got on a few sites to read about them.
The University of Texas Austin site had this information:
Signs of rabies in animals include:
- changes in an animal’s behavior
- general sickness
- problems swallowing
- an increase in drool or saliva
- wild animals that appear abnormally tame or sick
- animals that may bite at everything if excited
- difficulty moving or paralysis
- death
Animals in the early stage of rabies may not have any signs, although they can still infect you if they bite you. The incubation period is the time from the animal bite to when signs appear. In rabies, it is usually 1-3 months however it can last as long as several years. Once the virus reaches the brain or spinal cord, signs of the disease appear.
Rabies can only be confirmed by a laboratory test.
What if I see a raccoon/opossum/skunk out during the day?
Although nocturnal animals are most active throughout the night, it is not an indication that something is necessarily wrong if seen out during the day. Nocturnal animals often DO come out during the day.
Pet food, bird seed, and garbage can be powerful attractants. Weather changes also affect wildlife. A mother skunk or raccoon will often venture out in the daytime to take a well deserved break from her babies. At certain times of the year, particularly in the Fall, animals must be efficient in preparing for the winter and maximize their foraging time to find food, therefore starting out during daylight is not uncommon. Another possibility to consider is if an animal has been displaced from its home due to construction, then it is forced to move on sometimes during the day in search of a new shelter. The winter and early spring months signifies mating season for most species, meaning a peak in activity throughout the day for that time frame. Often, nocturnal animals seen in the early morning/afternoon hours are just taking their time getting home.
Then I called a friend of mine who does taxidermy and he is bringing us a live trap. There is so much land here that I can relocate my raccoon far away from anyone’s house and hope s/he doesn’t come back!
