Tonight we heard the crows going bonkers and figured they were tracking raccoons down the street. I got in my car and put the top down and slowly headed down the block to see if I could tell what they were tracking. One street over, I slowed to a stop where the crows were watching something in the trees. I couldn’t tell what it was, and then I realized the neighbors thought I was casing their houses… slowly driving by. Since I didn’t want to explain that I spoke crow, and I could tell they were tracking a predator, I decided to drive on my way.
Over an hour later, I returned home and the crows were still at it. By then I could tell they were tracking raccoons, and the raccoons were headed towards my house. So with the ducks safely in their night pens, I sat quietly in the yard and waited to see what would happen.
Pardon my French there at the end of the video.
The above video shows how the crows work hard to protect my ducks from predators like raccoons. They dive and swoop at the raccoons and caw as loud as they can to warn me of the danger. Even the Stellars Jays were helping.
Here is one raccoon in the neighbor’s compost pile. I snapped a few photos over the fence.
The raccoon was turning over the compost pile to eat grubs and bugs. This was just before two raccoons came into my yard.
In my yard, the raccoons stood right on top of Flapper’s night pen and scared Flapper & Chewy who were inside the pen, just below the raccoon. Then they moved along to O’Malley and Petunia’s pen, scaring them as well.
So, what does a raccoon do after eating cherries from all the trees on the block, eating bugs from the compost piles and terrorizing the ducks? Well of course, they sit down on a nice hammock and groom themselves.
This raccoon sat on top of my nice aviary and cleaned his belly and paws. He did not care that I was sitting right there, snapping photos of him. That’s right, he’s using my aviary as a f$#%ing hammock!
Late last week I realized the raccoons had learned how to chew through the aviary netting, and I knew I had a problem. Tonight I saw first hand how brazen and fearless these raccoons are. I have put a call in to the fencing company to see if they can fence in the top of the aviary. I hope they can. The ducks aren’t really safe in the aviary anymore, so they will be in their pens or only out when I’m with them until we find a more secure day-time solution.
As for the raccoons, it is illegal to trap and relocate raccoons. Why? Because raccoons can travel up to 50 miles to try to get back to their home territory. Also, you can inadvertently release them in another raccoon’s territory, causing fights and injuries to them or other wildlife. And while they try to return to their home territory, they are often hit by cars.
You can trap and euthanize them, but even then they will just be replaced by another raccoon, and they are only acting according to their nature. They shouldn’t have to lose their life for that.
These raccoons are too friendly though, which means they are probably being fed by people. This is f#%$ing ridiculous. Do not feed wildlife. Do not leave pet food outside. Do not put out scraps. Secure your trash. Raccoons in the Seattle area have high rates of distemper this year. Do not encourage them with food to reproduce and overpopulate an area. It is bad for them, bad for people and most importantly, terrifying for my ducks. These raccoons are not even remotely afraid of people.
The ducks are safe, and we’ll keep you posted on the fencing of the top of their aviary. Keep your fingers crossed that it can be done quickly and easily. It’s supposed to be a hot week, so I don’t think they’ll like being locked up.
Special thanks to the crows for always being so helpful to my ducks. I love those crows.
