A young raccoon headed down the pine tree outside my window as I sat at my computer the other day. It brought back memories. Raccoons are truly bandits. They look for food--and often a warm place to stay, or breed. The garbage can, unless clamped tight, is prey to their little "hands." This young one, out at mid-day, must have been hungry since one sees them usually only at night. I looked outside, but he had gone.
Living in the country, with older houses, encountering raccoons is inevitable, but even city dwellers have found these roly-poly creatures, masks in place, toddling along near their garbage cans, or trying to get under houses or porches.
One day, while cleaning out poison ivy from my absentee neighbor's yard (so the seeds would not blow into mine), I heard mewling noises. I crept closer to the sad looking shed at the back of the yard, and there in the long grass, were two baby raccoons. I looked around--but no mom or pop. Wisely, I retreated, and next day when I looked, the pups were gone. Perhaps I had surprised the seniors?
Before we put on a new roof, we had an outside stairway to our attic. These creatures had pulled open the bottom of the locked door, and squeezed through. For several winters we heard the patter of little feet above us. One day in mid-spring, we surprised the family coming down the stairs. A squealing little one had fallen through the stairs onto our woodpile, and mom was trying to coax it out. Opening the screen door a little to see better, pop charged us, screaming and spitting. Of course we closed the door. Soon the little one got the hang of it, and the bandits all toddled off, no doubt to the woods for the summer.
Cuteness does not cut it. We must always remember there is little doubt these animals are wild.
Have you had such an experience?
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