I Am A Turncoat

[weebeasties]

Years ago raccoons destroyed our birdfeeders. To my partner, this meant War.
We replaced the devastated plastic feeders with sturdy metal ones and my partner began a strict regime of taking down the birdfeeders at dusk and rehanging them every morning so the raccoon enemy had no chance of a free meal.
But then the raccoons countered by invading the pool. They swim in it. They steal toys out of it. Sometimes the toys are found in the surrounding woods, sometimes they are left on the deck - mocking us. One helpless rubber ducky disappeared one night, never to be seen again!
My partner is angry. ( I feel we live in the woods, wild animals live in the woods, things happen, let it go. ) But I must show solidarity with my partner because, well, because. So I nod and say "yes dear, they are very naughty raccoons."
Now we are visited during the day by one particular raccoon. Many times during the day, raiding our birdfeeders. I have my orders to be on the lookout for it and chase it away at every opportunity. "Yes, dear."
The thing is, I already had a soft spot for the poor thing. It's got a short stubby tail so probably had a painful accident at some point in it's life. Anyway, I say I chase it off, but I never really do. And then last week I got a really good look at her as she was climbing down a tree and I see big heavy mammary glands. I think she's nursing babies! No wonder she's coming out all day risking being chased by my partner.
So before, I was sort of an innocent bystander in this war. Now, I admit, I'm giving aid to the enemy. I'm being intentionally sloppy when filling the feeders so there's a lot of sunflower seeds hitting the ground. I actually bought a second secret bag of seed to help in my deception. I don't want my partner to see the current bag being depleted too quickly.
I have even toyed with the idea of leaving some kibble out in the woods for her, but if my partner found out...Oh the betrayal!

Ok, seriously, I know feeding a raccoon is not the smart thing to do but, come on, she's a mommy! ( and how frigging cute would it be if she showed up in the yard with her little babies. The sight of that would HAVE to be enough to get my partner to give up this pointless war!)

Here's hoping we all can learn to get along!

 

[catsknowme]

ugh! that is a hard situation! I would feed dog kibble, early in the am, as far away from your place as I could get, so she stays over there. I was relieved that you saw that she is nursing - rabies & raccoons is always a concern when outside in the daytime.
I, too, have compassion for animal mothers. A few years ago, on my porch, a large male raccoon was trying to kill baby raccoons (so the mom will go into heat again and produce HIS offspring, just like lions, horses, elephants and other mammals) and their mom was trying to fight him off. When I ran outside, she ran behind me, 4 kits at her heels. The male came charging, they ran up our nearby apple tree. I tried to get to the the door but the male came at me!Fortunately, I had my baseball bat and I gave him a fierce whack that launched him. I felt bad but the next night and since, has shown no sign of injury while trying to figure out a way into my hen coop. The mom began bringing her kits out around sunset, looking for scraps in the dirt from my ferals' dishes as well as bugs.

 

[Furballsmom]

lordy lordy.

 

[Kat0121]

I would do the same thing. It wouldn't be a secret though.It was squirrels that destroyed our bird feeder though.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

Ok, seriously, I know feeding a raccoon is not the smart thing to do but, come on, she's a mommy! ( and how frigging cute would it be if she showed up in the yard with her little babies. The sight of that would HAVE to be enough to get my partner to give up this pointless war!)

 

[misty8723]

I would do the same thing. It wouldn't be a secret though.It was squirrels that destroyed our bird feeder though.

It wouldn't be secret with me either - I would be very vocal about it and DH knows me well enough to not ask me to "go to war." Not even with the stupid squirrels who invaded our attic.

 

[weebeasties]

View attachment 243802

Oh look at the cuteness! Adorable little babies!

 

[weebeasties]

Ummm... My original post was meant to be a bit tounge-in-cheek. My apologies for not making that clear. I wrote it because I was amused at the ridiculous situation. I don't want to give anyone the impression that my partner is mean, abusive, or controlling. The extent of "going to war" is simply not feeding the raccoons and chasing it away from the feeders in the daytime.
I thought others would get a chuckle out of the silly situation. Sorry if my poor writing skills made anyone think I was living in fear of a deranged partner.

 

[abby2932]

weebeasties I knew what you meant! It was funny.

 

[weebeasties]

ugh! that is a hard situation! I would feed dog kibble, early in the am, as far away from your place as I could get, so she stays over there. I was relieved that you saw that she is nursing - rabies & raccoons is always a concern when outside in the daytime.
I, too, have compassion for animal mothers. A few years ago, on my porch, a large male raccoon was trying to kill baby raccoons (so the mom will go into heat again and produce HIS offspring, just like lions, horses, elephants and other mammals) and their mom was trying to fight him off. When I ran outside, she ran behind me, 4 kits at her heels. The male came charging, they ran up our nearby apple tree. I tried to get to the the door but the male came at me!Fortunately, I had my baseball bat and I gave him a fierce whack that launched him. I felt bad but the next night and since, has shown no sign of injury while trying to figure out a way into my hen coop. The mom began bringing her kits out around sunset, looking for scraps in the dirt from my ferals' dishes as well as bugs.

Dang! I had no idea the males would do that. Mother Nature can be ruthless!

 

[Boris Diamond]

I have a soft spot for moms, too. Carolina wrens nest in my car port light fixture. I love to hear mama bird's song in the morning, and for about ten years I have let the wrens nest there and have never replaced the burned out bulb! One guy used to give me a really hard time about it. Too bad. I love those wrens. I have spotlights at the front of the carport and they give me enough light.

I get squirrels at the bird feeders and they have destroyed several. I have squirrel-proof feeders now, but the squirrels still try. I put corn out for the squirrels and they like that better than bird seed and they leave the feeders alone. I hang an ear of corn about 14 inches off the ground, six inches from the pole they are hanging from. The squirrels seem to be the only one who can get to it there - so far.

 

[catsknowme]

Dang! I had no idea the males would do that. Mother Nature can be ruthless![/QUOTE
Yes, it is already so difficult for moms - I like to give them all the support that I can.

 

[FlawlessImperfection]

Benedict.

 

[weebeasties]

The squirrels eat from our feeders too. Luckily, they have never caused any damage. We put out corn for them too, but they seem to prefer sunflower seeds. We also put out unsalted peanuts in the shell. Everybody likes those.

 

[weebeasties]

I have a soft spot for moms, too. Carolina wrens nest in my car port light fixture. I love to hear mama bird's song in the morning, and for about ten years I have let the wrens nest there and have never replaced the burned out bulb! One guy used to give me a really hard time about it. Too bad. I love those wrens.

 

[muffy]

Thank all of you guys for taken care of the wild animals. They are all so precious. Especially the ones that have little babies.

 

[Winchester]

For years we fed the groundhogs in the far back of our yard. We had three: the Brunette Bombshell and the Blondie Boys (2 of them). We have idea who was who or anything like that, but one was dark, two were lighter and so that's what we called them.

They loved dry cat kibble, they really loved apple slices. I'd take a container of water up to them at least three times a day.

One afternoon, the Brunette Bombshell came up on the deck. I was sitting at the computer in the kitchen. She stretched out on the deck and gave me a belly wave! Then she hopped up on the swing and took a nap. What really got me is that our cats didn't care one bit; they didn't get upset nor were they the slightest bit curious. That made me realize that the Bombshell had been spending her time on our deck for quite a while.

We don't really know what happened to them (although I do think our neighbor could tell us as he's known for eliminating groundhogs). But we really enjoyed them spending time with us.

 

[jcat]

Meet Mowgli's buddy, who helps deal with "surplus" grapes, peaches, etc., in the backyard.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

that's great that you're looking out for momma racoon!!

i have a birds nest nestled in under the overhang of my back door. it's been there for years, almost since i bought my house. every year, birds nest in it, and i hear the babies chirping.

and probably about 5 years ago, a Canada goose couple decided to nest at the side of my house, just behind a (spare) trash can i have there -- really a poor choice for a nest site. i was always very careful to approach the area slowly while talking softly, to announce my proximity and to not startle the goose on the nest and potentially have her/him become injured from trying to take flight too quickly. unfortunately, the eggs never made it to the point of hatching. one day i went outside and saw that other critters had raided the nest, and left broken egg shells.

 

[dustydiamond1]

weebeasties I knew what you meant! It was funny.