B.P That is terrible, There are probably more if it was young ! Time to live trap, good luck Martha

Hey Bonnie .. Ive been living with racoons in my back yard for years. They dont normally go after your plants like that .. they are more interested in your garbage .. and recycling. They love cat food :o) If you have babies then you have a momma somewhere .. if you live trap it and move it then another one will move in. In Burlington it is illegal to move the racoons .. if you do manage to trap it .. you have to move it at least 5 miles or it will return. Plus if she has babies you will have to trap all of them too. If you decide to live trap them .. set out dry cat food for several days .. no trap .. then gradually move the food into the trap .. they are smart little buggers. Also becareful you might trap something that would have more of a lingering smell .. Rabbits have been the ones around here that do the most damage to my plants .. then there are the groundhogs which my dog has been able to keep their numbers down .. yuck. Then again something has been digging up my neighbours plants ... it dug up a large clump of sedums .. no damage to the plant but it was dug up .. might be a raccoon looking for grubs as she has nested in ceiling of their garage. How did this little fellow make his way into your house???

They can be nasty buggers!! I had to start 'hot' composting partly because of them. If I place new stuff in a cold pile, it's a heck of a mess in the morning for me to clean-up!
With the hot compost, they don't go through it for old banana peels, rotting salad, and moldy strawberries!!
We also have to be careful with them as one with rabies was discovered close by last year.

Hope he/she/it stays clear of your home!!

I'm really hoping this was a one time thing. I've never seen any signs of them before - nothing has ever gotten into the trash or compost before anyway. My compost is mostly cold, so if they were around before I'm sure they would have smelled it and gotten into it. But there has been the weird plant damage this year. It could still be squirrels, since there are way more than usual around, and they might be getting desperate.

It got in by climbing over the fence and waltzing in the back door as bold as you please. We leave the back door open when we're up so the cats can go out where it's cooler. It was probably pretty freaked out - one of the shelves he climbed on wasn't really attached, it was just resting on the supports, and he knocked that down (along with everything on it, and under it). Made a helluva racket! I suppose from his point of view it wasn't a successful visit, so maybe he won't be back :-)

Unfortunately I can't live trap it. According to the city it's illegal for me to do that (I checked into it when the squirrel problem got bad several years ago). I can ask the animal control guys to do it, but by the time they get around to me, it'll have died of old age! Unless it becomes a regular problem, there's no point anyway. I am a bit nervous because raccoon rabies arrived in the area a few years ago, but I'm not going to panic about it. So far there've been no cases in the city. One of our cats is vaccinated, but I haven't been able to vaccinate the other one because he's sick (he's probably still got immunity - those vaccines last forever). And of course DH and I aren't vaccinated :-)

At least the cats had enough sense not to go near it, and I grew up with raccoons the size of volkswagon beetles in the woods behind the house, so I learned not to go near them.

Thank god it wasn't a skunk :-)

BP

Bonnie Ham's levels should be good .. if you have been giving him his shots regularly .. I cant do Taz either but after 17 years .. Im sure hes good :o) If they become a regular problem .. racoons can be vaccinated by eatting a bait containing the vaccine .. see if the city or province does drops in your area .. they might be willing to do a drop in the neighbourhood .. then the racoon is vacinated :o)

I vaccinate every three years now. Ham was due for his booster this year, but according to what I've been reading, he's probably going to be fine even if he does come into contact with a rabid raccoon. Some studies are revealing most cats are still showing significant rabies immunity 5-7 years after being vaccinated. So his immunity will probably outlast him. The cats aren't likely to tangle with the raccoon if it comes back anyway, being the wusses that they are, so I'm not too worried about it.

That's a good idea though - to see if the city does bait drops. If they don't it wouldn't hurt to encourage them :-)

So far there've been no more visits. If he was scared enough, that might be the first, last, and only visit!

BP