I heard on the radio this morning that they are selling for $3 apiece. I can't do anything about the raccoons that live off my property and come here to eat, but believe me, a person (or dog) doesn't want to be caught hunting them on my property. I am armed and dangerous and I just got a new supply of ammo last night.

Good for you Marilyn!!!!!

Not long ago, a rabid coon decided to sleep in the dog house I bought for my cats. It wasn't a happy ending...

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It look calm enough..how did you know it was rabid...and if you knew, why were you so close???

I would have stayed in the house and called the animal control.

patti

Yes, curious to know how you knew it was rabid? Did you have his head tested?

Yes, why rabies? Was he foaming at the mouth and threatening to attack? Doesn't look like it.

It could be they thought that because he is sleeping in a place that a wild raccoon normally wouldn't sleep...they usually sleep in trees. However, raccoons that have been raised as pets and then turned out don't exhibit behavior like wild raccoons. So, he could have been someone's pet.

People will often raise a baby raccoon and then find out it is more than they can handle...which is true...they shouldn't be kept as pets...and they turn them loose in the wild, thinking they are a wild animal and they will revert to the wild and be okay. But, that isn't so. They don't fit in with wild raccoons, and they have little fear of people or dogs (if they were raised with dogs). They don't know how to fend for themselves and they will be thin and beaten up by wild raccoons, who are very territorial. That was my first thought when I saw the picture.

Too, people are very aggressive but they don't understand aggression in wild animals. I am told all the time how much people hate possums....because they are "mean". Well, duh.
They are wild animals. But, really, they aren't mean unless they are tormented. I brought home two today that I picked up and carried like a cat. They may exhibit aggressive behaviors when frightened or cornered but they
seldom will bite.

I will exhibit aggressive behaviors when frightened or cornered and I also bite. Vique

That little fellow looks like he (she?) just needed a little rest in a safe place, and thought he had found it. I don't even want to know what happened....

Elisabeth

Poor little guy, I don't understand why anyone would want to harm him. I wish this person had not posted the photo along with ominous remarks. It makes me sad to think they killed him.

Buy up as much ammo as you can now Marlyn They are trying to pass a bill that will code all ammunition and track it on a data base no kidding.

I assumed it was rabid because it didn't exhibit what I thought was normal behavior.

Do they always sleep with their eyes open like this one?

I tried to run it off by banging on the back of the dog house. It wouldn't budge. Stayed curled up with its eyes open like you see here.

I took a broom and (standing as far back from the entrance as I could) swished it around inside the dog house, thinking the coon would wake up and run out. It didn't.

I finally drug the dog house to the edge of the back porch so that the "door" of the dog house was about 6" lower than the back side and tipped the house enough that the coon and the pillow came slowly out.

The coon wouldn't run off. It couldn't stand up. I tried to prod it with the broom. It just fell over instead of walking.

So is this normal behavior in October in broad daylight?
And if it did have rabies, what should I have done?
We live in the country...we ARE animal control.

It looks very thin, but I doubt it had rabies. They do sleep with their eyes open sometimes, and so do possums and so do people...half closed. It could have been sick, but I doubt it had rabies. I don't blame you for putting it out of it's misery, in that case. It was probably the kindest thing you could have done. It was probably suffering.

Oh Rita - Why don't you just admit that you actually operate a .....CATHOUSE in your back yard!

Thank you, Marilyn. I feel better about that!

I didn't post the picture to be mean... In fact, I took the picture because I thought the coon was very cute at first! But it just seemed like very odd behavior during broad daylight. I'd have thought a healthy animal would have run out and scampered away like they do at night. I don't shoot animals just for fun or just for acting like animals.

mcmann: I've been wondering how you're doing! I searched recently to see if you'd posted lately. :-)

Please thoroughly wash and disinfect that bedding in that dog house or destroy it completely just to be on the safe side and not contaminate another animal.

Rita- how sweet of you to notice that I've been missing. The last 2 months have been so topsy turvey that I haven't had time to post although I try to check in several times a week. Right now we're in the middle of remodeling the main bath, installing a new walkway and finishing the basement. I have drywall dust to spare if anyone is interested.