5 reasons to stop feeding the raccoons

[Beaucarnea]

Find a more appropriate way to become an environmental steward.

1. Raccoons are a very successful opportunistic species and are not endangered. They have no predators other than man, and live successfully in more than 40 states in an astounding variety of habitats.

2. A large population of well-fed and breeding raccoons will encroach on and crowd out the habitat of other species. Your time and effort may be better spent dedicated to restoring habitat to species that are actually in peril in your very backyard. The state of Wisconsin has several shrews, bats, voles, and squirrels and over 100 species of bird that are in need of protection. There are far better ways to be a steward of the environment than spending your time and resources domesticating yet another species which thankyouverymuch does not need your help to thrive. Here is the a link that shows the endangered species in Wisconsin. Please take note that Raccoon is not listed.

3. Keep feeding them, and Mama Raccoon will recognize a plentiful supply of resources and produce even more young. How many raccoons can you support? What happens if you move? What happens if you die? What happens when your neighbor Bob sees more than 20 raccoons tearing apart his yard at night, recognizes the masked crew as an infestation, and decides to poison your pseudo-pets with antifreeze or some other merciless toxin?

4. 5 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. Humans cannot care for the pets we already have; why would you attempt to domesticate yet another species? Imagine how cute the little masked bandits will look behind bars once we have introduced yet another dependent species to our households.

5. Bobby Junior next door finds your pet raccoon begging next door, and reaches out to pet him. Ethically, the responsibility of little Bobby’s stitches and painful rabies shots will lie with you.



This pitting brought to you by the letter E, which stands for ecosystem, which needs to be examined and protected in its entirety and not limited to the cute wittle animals.

Also brought to you by a treehugging, earthloving, vegetarian, gardening liberal granola eating naturegirl who also hates to see anything killed unnecessarily. But if you keep feeding the fucking raccoons, it will be necessary to kill them.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

But they're cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

I wholeheartedly agree. Let wildlife be wild!! Leave 'em alone!!

[LouisB]

Try to explain to the neighborhood alligators that they are not natural predators of raccoons. They will not agree and will continue to eat each and every raccoon they can.

Other than that, I got no problems with your position paper.

[Beaucarnea]

Originally Posted by LouisB

Try to explain to the neighborhood alligators that they are not natural predators of raccoons. They will not agree and will continue to eat each and every raccoon they can.

Other than that, I got no problems with your position paper.

Excellent idea. Please package and ship approximately three large alligators to Wisconsin and one to New Jersey posthaste.

Oh, and here is the link to the thread that pissed me off.

[Acid Lamp]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Bobby Junior next door finds your pet raccoon begging next door, and reaches out to pet him. Ethically, the responsibility of little Bobby’s stitches and painful rabies shots will lie with you.

I can get behind all of the above but this one. Little shit ought to be supervised.

Besides, raccoons are fun.

[carnivorousplant]

I was bitten because her kits (Cubs? What do yo call them?) were stealing cat food and she began an altercation with my cat and her kittens. Things could have gotten ugly.
Had I known how painless the shots were, I'd have taken them instead of shooting Mom.
I'm sure it is heard to resist feeding them, but despite the problem being people and our animals, I too advise one not to feed them, at least on purpose.

[elelle]

I hear ya, Beau. It's that little Hand Thang that makes them so cute, begging. My Dad used to love them , coming up to the house and all standing up with hands outstretched, coming for the dogfood he'd supply, until, in Alabama, there was an amphitheatre full, every night, begging.

Raccoons are cute, with their little masked faces and curious demeanor, but, with Big Ass Teeth, and, will bite, and are a rabies vector. Don't encourage them. Raccoons get so easily anthromorphized, to their detriment, as Beaucarnea says.

Not mentioned in the OP, but very important; Raccoons are a Rabies vector species, so encouraging them to live among your domestic animals is a hazard.

I, another hate-to-denigrate a critter person, who, at one level, appreciates Coons, and Coyotes, for being able to thrive in the atmosphere humans have created, sees the need to not outright encourage that. Let them be wild and survive in their own right.

[asterion]

Things that don't live in my backyard (and I'm very glad for that) include:

Raccoons
Squirrels
Chipmunks
Deer
Alligators
Wasps
Bees
Fire ants
Coyotes

You know, I'm not sure what lives in my yard except for the occasional lizard and some insects.

[Anne Neville]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Find a more appropriate way to become an environmental steward.

1. Raccoons are a very successful opportunistic species and are not endangered. They have no predators other than man, and live successfully in more than 40 states in an astounding variety of habitats.

If they were endangered, it would be even more important for humans to not feed them. Animals that are fed by humans learn to associate humans with food, and will approach humans looking for said food. This can be a real problem if the humans are in cars that can hit and kill an animal. A number of the wild ponies of Assateague Island die that way every year. That behavior can also be a problem if the animals themselves can be dangerous to humans (such as bears).

If you're feeding an animal that is an important vector for rabies, such as raccoons, bear in mind that, if you get bitten by the animal, and someone manages to trap the animal, the animal will be killed so it can be tested for rabies. If you feed a bear, the bear will start approaching other humans looking for food, someone will think it's a threat, and the bear will most likely be killed.

You're not doing wild animals, endangered or not, any favors by feeding them.

[Tuckerfan]

Instead of having two threads about this, why didn't you just make one and call it "10 reasons to stop feeding the racoons"?

[Beaucarnea]

Because one thread was legit, the other one a decoy I was using to fish for clever comments.

Oh, look! A little baby one! I'll throw it back. I want to be a responsible pitter.

[Kalhoun]

Those little fuckers keep getting into my garbage cans. I don't know how they do it, but they do it.

[Marlitharn]

Because, as the 911 caller who found the raccoon in her dumpster told us ominously, "When one comes, they all come!"

[Turek]

Can I add a 6th?

Thanks.

6) Because it'll get in the ceiling of your building, eat the poison the exterminator laid out, die, and release it's bodily fluids... directly above your boss who's sitting in a meeting in the conference room.

No, she wasn't too happy when dead raccoon piss fell on her.

[Giraffe]

Duplicate threads merged. Don't be frightened.

[Tuckerfan]

Originally Posted by Turek

Can I add a 6th?

Thanks.

6) Because it'll get in the ceiling of your building, eat the poison the exterminator laid out, die, and release it's bodily fluids... directly above your boss who's sitting in a meeting in the conference room.

No, she wasn't too happy when dead raccoon piss fell on her.

You know, I can think of a couple of bosses I've had that I would have enjoyed seeing covered in dead raccoon piss.

[Tuckerfan]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Excellent idea. Please package and ship approximately three large alligators to Wisconsin and one to New Jersey posthaste.

Well, with global warming, the 'gators might just be making their way there now. (We've got 'dillos in TN, a former cow-orker thought they'd make a great pet, even after I told him they're walking leper colonies.)

[Loach]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Excellent idea. Please package and ship approximately three large alligators to Wisconsin and one to New Jersey posthaste.

Oh, and here is the link to the thread that pissed me off.

Finally a suggestion that might work! I'll be waiting for my package.

[Musicat]

The most intense predator of raccoons in my neighborhood is the automobile.

I put out food for wild animals. I like wild animals. I don't like them inside my house, so I take steps to prevent that. They don't invade trash cans because I have tight-fitting lids and I don't keep trash cans outside except just before trash pickup.

I don't care what wild animals eat the food. Birds of all kinds, deer, raccoons, possums, foxes, porcupines, squirrels (ground, red, gray), chipmunks, and skunks are frequent visitors, and I like them all. I enjoy watching them and consider them an asset to my immediate community. One of the reasons many of us are here is to enjoy them.

They don't hurt me and I usually avoid entanglements. A few years ago, a family of coons was friendly enough that I could hand-feed the babies, but I don't usually try that, as I realize there is some danger involved. No animals are larger than deer, and none will cause me harm unless I antagonize them.

So, Beaucarnea, none of your arguments have any effect on me. I hope you get devoured by a very large raccoon.

But first...a very large and horny raccoon...

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

I should add that one boon of road-kill raccoons in the Mercotan household is genuine coonskin caps! My uncle is a taxidermist.

QtM, using every bit that nature provides............

[Beaucarnea]

Originally Posted by Musicat

The most intense predator of raccoons in my neighborhood is the automobile.

I put out food for wild animals. I like wild animals. I don't like them inside my house, so I take steps to prevent that. They don't invade trash cans because I have tight-fitting lids and I don't keep trash cans outside except just before trash pickup.

I don't care what wild animals eat the food. Birds of all kinds, deer, raccoons, possums, foxes, porcupines, squirrels (ground, red, gray), chipmunks, and skunks are frequent visitors, and I like them all. I enjoy watching them and consider them an asset to my immediate community. One of the reasons many of us are here is to enjoy them.

They don't hurt me and I usually avoid entanglements. A few years ago, a family of coons was friendly enough that I could hand-feed the babies, but I don't usually try that, as I realize there is some danger involved. No animals are larger than deer, and none will cause me harm unless I antagonize them.

So, Beaucarnea, none of your arguments have any effect on me. I hope you get devoured by a very large raccoon.

But first...a very large and horny raccoon...

So long as you live in a bubble with no entrance and no egress for your dependent wildlife, you should continue to co-opt nature's creatures for your own (selfish!) personal entertainment. (I assume you have discussed the borders of your yard and the dangers of asking other humans for food with your furry friends...) The Earth is not your private fairytale, and you've no business tampering with the balance of predator or prey.

But when you are ready treat wild things with respect please read the list of endangered and threatened animals and plants in your region. There is much that you can do to create habitat and natural food sources for all manner of furred and feathered animals that will not result in their inability to fend for themselves. As someone with a few extra resources, you have the power to assist animals in peril instead of crippling them with your misguided attempts to make them dependent. Please consider their welfare before your own.

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Find a more appropriate way to become an environmental steward.

1. Raccoons are a very successful opportunistic species and are not endangered. They have no predators other than man, and live successfully in more than 40 states in an astounding variety of habitats.

So what? Does that make you hate them? Successful and opportunistic species are what evolution produces, so why don't you study, celebrate and learn from them?

2. A large population of well-fed and breeding raccoons will encroach on and crowd out the habitat of other species. Your time and effort may be better spent dedicated to restoring habitat to species that are actually in peril in your very backyard. The state of Wisconsin has several shrews, bats, voles, and squirrels and over 100 species of bird that are in need of protection. There are far better ways to be a steward of the environment than spending your time and resources domesticating yet another species which thankyouverymuch does not need your help to thrive. Here is the a link that shows the endangered species in Wisconsin. Please take note that Raccoon is not listed.

You say tomato, I say raccoons...

If you want to "protect" any species, that's your privilege. I don't have the same priorities, and that's my privilege. I certainly don't let someone else dictate my choices as to what wild animals to love and which to hate. And if some species is becoming extinct, well, natural selection works and is damn hard to oppose. Millions of species have become extinct since the world began, and one theory says that homo sapiens owes its very existence to the extinction of some of them. Who am I to oppose nature?

3. Keep feeding them, and Mama Raccoon will recognize a plentiful supply of resources and produce even more young. How many raccoons can you support? What happens if you move? What happens if you die? What happens when your neighbor Bob sees more than 20 raccoons tearing apart his yard at night, recognizes the masked crew as an infestation, and decides to poison your pseudo-pets with antifreeze or some other merciless toxin?

We don't have any Neighbor Bobs around here, thank goodness. If you represent NB, please stay the hell away and go find your own raccoons to kill.

Nature goes in cycles. Right now, it seems squirrels are plentiful, and the fox population is increasing. Maybe it will crash when squirrels are depleted. Or maybe my food will encourage the squirrel population, which will encourage fox breeding. Either way, Nature will compensate.

What happens if I move or die? Either someone else will take over, or the population of some animals will adjust. What obligation do I have to continue to feed them forever just because I once did? And you are assuming that their only food is from me, which is probably not true.

4. 5 million cats and dogs are euthanized in shelters each year. Humans cannot care for the pets we already have; why would you attempt to domesticate yet another species? Imagine how cute the little masked bandits will look behind bars once we have introduced yet another dependent species to our households.

I am not attempting to domesticate anything. Besides, what makes your choice of pets (dogs and cats) better than mine? All of my domestic pets for all my family's life have been neutered and most came from castoff sources. If any family could be said to be contributing to animal welfare, it is mine. I once assisted in placement of abused animals in good homes in the area. My lack of discrimination is what makes it "animal' welfare as opposed to, say, "tabby cat" welfare.

5. Bobby Junior next door finds your pet raccoon begging next door, and reaches out to pet him. Ethically, the responsibility of little Bobby’s stitches and painful rabies shots will lie with you.

No, it won't. Bobby's father & mother, knowing he lives in a rural area, should be educating him to take caution. If Bobby comes over to my house, he may get some education as well. And such eduation includes knowledge of how each species contributes to the ecology as a whole; what their place is in the whole scheme, and admiration for Le Grande Plan.

This pitting brought to you by the letter E, which stands for ecosystem, which needs to be examined and protected in its entirety and not limited to the cute wittle animals.

Protecting species A at the expense of species B is a very personal matter. Who are you to tell me which ones I must love and which I must kill? Could you be one of those fucking, super-righteous eco-fucking-freaks who can't abide a different opinion from yours?

Also brought to you by a treehugging, earthloving, vegetarian, gardening liberal granola eating naturegirl who also hates to see anything killed unnecessarily. But if you keep feeding the fucking raccoons, it will be necessary to kill them.

Strange words from a naturegirl. Next you'll be telling me to burn down oaks because you like hemlocks better. "Necessary"? Haven't had to kill one yet.

[Beaucarnea]

Musicat, we posted at nearly the same time. I've nothing new to add, 'cept maybe to point out that I haven't declared that I "hate" any creature, nor do I advocate killing them. And while you are re-reading my posts for content, take note of the other responses in the thread. Perhaps I am not the only eco-fucking-freak who feels that you are causing more harm to your raccoons than good. You could also check with your local extension office, wildlife officer, or library for suggestions on how to care wildlife responsibly.

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

So long as you live in a bubble with no entrance and no egress for your dependent wildlife, you should continue to co-opt nature's creatures for your own (selfish!) personal entertainment. (I assume you have discussed the borders of your yard and the dangers of asking other humans for food with your furry friends...) The Earth is not your private fairytale, and you've no business tampering with the balance of predator or prey.

And the Earth is not your private fairytale, either. Since when is my enjoyment "selfish" and yours not? "Tampering with the balance"? Your very existence is tampering with it! Everything you are suggesting is tampering with it! Both encouraging and killing animals is tampering with it! Yet you don't like my choices of what to encourage, and want me to follow your lead as the super-authority! No fucking way! Who made you God?

But when you are ready treat wild things with respect please read the list of endangered and threatened animals and plants in your region. There is much that you can do to create habitat and natural food sources for all manner of furred and feathered animals that will not result in their inability to fend for themselves. As someone with a few extra resources, you have the power to assist animals in peril instead of crippling them with your misguided attempts to make them dependent. Please consider their welfare before your own.

You may enourage any animal that you wish, furred, feathered or tarred. I don't call your choices misguided, just different. And my definition of "respect" is obviously different from yours.

There's no right or wrong in this argument, my friend, only points of view. Please respect that we have different priorities and desires. And "their" welfare -- if we are talking about nature -- is exactly what is driving both of us; we just see different ways of reaching the same goal.

My local extension officer is a friend of mine, and lives across the street. He has no problems with raccoons. AFAIK, he doesn't feed them or kill them, and that's fine with me. Several other ecology-minded experts live close by; I am in frequent contact with all, and they don't agree on all topics. Therefore, I reserve the right to make up my own mind until the dust settles. Please feel free to do the same.

...nor do I advocate killing them.

But if you keep feeding the fucking raccoons, it will be necessary to kill them.

[coffeecat]

Originally Posted by Qadgop the Mercotan

I should add that one boon of road-kill raccoons in the Mercotan household is genuine coonskin caps! My uncle is a taxidermist.

QtM, using every bit that nature provides............

You mean you see the typical flyblown roadkill corpse (urk!), someone gets volunteered into risking diseases only you and your colleagues can pronounce by picking the thing up (gak!), drops it hastily into a plastic shopping bag, and the whole family drives it over to Uncle Gharlane's house so he can disinfect it (How?) enough that he can make it into something a sane person would want touching their body?

I really would like to know the details, because right now I'm torn between taking up the cool craft of tanning leather at home, and nausea.

[Beaucarnea]

If you continue to create dependent raccoons that are unafraid of humans and those that expect humans to provide food, they will be killed by humans who do not want their property destroyed and who fear rabies in raccoons that act strangely and come close to humans. Period.

I am not in favor of killing raccoons, I am in favor of leaving wild animals wild. Is my position clear? There is no hunting season for raccoons. Raccoons are not usually killed for either food or recreation; but they are frequently killed for exhibiting unusual behavior that could be misconstrued as symptomatic of rabies, and frequently killed for destruction of property. Raccoons living in the woods are seldom killed by humans. But humans will kill raccoons who beg for food or damage property.

Raccoons that live in the wild and fend for themselves generally avoid humans. Your raccoons are on the fast track to domestication, and will come close to humans, which endangers both 'coons and humans.

Your hand fed raccoons are far more likely to be killed than the raccoons who live on the other side of town that fend for themselves.

I can't phrase this any other way, and since you are the only one here who is deliberately twisting and misunderstanding my words, I see no need to attempt to make myself any clearer.

Just in case you are still misunderstanding- here is an idea. Fence them in. Keep your tame raccoons in your yard. 'K?

[Wile E]

Yes, please do not feed the raccoons. Coyotes however are fine to feed. Just don't feed them the raccoons, they're too gamey.

[Musicat]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

If you continue to create dependent raccoons that are unafraid of humans...

They are not dependent, and they are not unafraid of humans. One litter was friendly, and other neighbors enjoyed them as well. They receive supplementary food from more neighbors than just me, and I'll feed them if I damn well please because I like to.

...and those that expect humans to provide food, they will be killed by humans who do not want their property destroyed and who fear rabies in raccoons that act strangely and come close to humans. Period.

Rabies is a very rare disease around here. My neighbors do not have their property destroyed. Most neighbors are smart enough to know that a garbage bag left out overnight is likely to be broken into by dozens of hungry animals; raccoons are no hungrier than any, just bigger than some. Unlike human vandals, animals are not ripping things apart just to be a nuisance; they are trying to survive.

One thing you might not have considered is the encroachment of man on wild teritory. This tends to reduce habitat, which reduces animal populations. I don't plan on bulldozing my house, but maybe I can compensate for having built it by providing food for those affected. It's the least I can (and will) do.

I am not in favor of killing raccoons, I am in favor of leaving wild animals wild. Is my position clear? There is no hunting season for raccoons. Raccoons are not usually killed for either food or recreation; but they are frequently killed for exhibiting unusual behavior that could be misconstrued as symptomatic of rabies, and frequently killed for destruction of property. Raccoons living in the woods are seldom killed by humans. But humans will kill raccoons who beg for food or damage property.

Maybe in your neighborhood. I am not suggesting you feed your raccoons if you don't want to; that's your business. But you are not the arbiter of what's right in nature and you don't have a monopoly on advice.

Raccoons that live in the wild and fend for themselves generally avoid humans. Your raccoons are on the fast track to domestication, and will come close to humans, which endangers both 'coons and humans.

Nonsense. Neither is being endangered, and both benefit. Since a typical life span is about 2-3 years, I rarely see the same generation for long, and each new one has the same fears to start. They get food, we get entertainment and feel like we are helping less fortunate animals. Strange that the actions you despise are exactly the ones we think are beneficial to all.

Just in case you are still misunderstanding- here is an idea. Fence them in. Keep your tame raccoons in your yard. 'K?

I'll send you a crate of 'em tomorrow.

[straight man]

Originally Posted by Qadgop the Mercotan

But they're cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

No, no, let's get this straight (since I am "straight man" and all that...)

Raccoons are terrifically cute when they're staring at you out of your (previously closed!) trash can with those dark little eyes, looking all innocent.

Then they start walking with that back-and-forth, ugly-ass-in-the-air-like-the-front-paws-are-really-just-for-show-and-ripping-out-your-fucking-eyes gait, and you realize that the little buggers are actually just nasty vermin that should be destroyed as quickly as possible.

River otters, on the other hand, are actually cute. (I actually see them as often around here, happily enough.)

[Wile E]

Originally Posted by Qadgop the Mercotan

I should add that one boon of road-kill raccoons in the Mercotan household is genuine coonskin caps! My uncle is a taxidermist.

QtM, using every bit that nature provides............

QtM, I'm one of your biggest fans, but I just can't fangirl squee over a guy with a dead animal on his head.

Sorry, but you're going to have to say something clever and witty now for me to get rid of the whole idea of your dead animal hat.

[Beaucarnea]

Originally Posted by Musicat

So you planted something only racoons like? Solution: plant something else.

Originally Posted by Musicat

While all of you were shooting raccoons, I was feeding them out of my hands. It's a much gentler approach.

Originally Posted by Musicat

But you are not the arbiter of what's right in nature and you don't have a monopoly on advice.

Hey, Pot, my name is Kettle. We both black, huh? Except one of us will take her cues from wildlife experts and professional biologists, and the other takes hers from cartoons and Hallmark. Please reconsider your stance, and include your local endangered fauna in your campaign.

[straight man]

And Musicat, that is really truly stupid behavior. Making wild animals accustomed to humans makes them a) more likely to attack humans, in particular unwary children, and b) get killed by humans. Neither side benefis.

[Frylock]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Excellent idea. Please package and ship approximately three large alligators to Wisconsin and one to New Jersey posthaste.

Oh, and here is the link to the thread that pissed me off.

For the lazy and curious, could you point to the post that started the offpissing?

-FrL-

[Beaucarnea]

Originally Posted by Frylock

For the lazy and curious, could you point to the post that started the offpissing?

-FrL-

Here ya go.

[straight man]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Here ya go.

Ah. I see I'm just pissing into the wind. So it goes, I guess.

[Quint]

Let's all just be thankful that Musicat doesn't live in bear country.

[straight man]

Originally Posted by Quint

Let's all just be thankful that Musicat doesn't live in bear country.

Well, the problem would solve itself fairly quickly.

Disclaimer: in truth, I am also glad that Musicat is not risking bear maulings. But she certainly is in a position to get herself hurt with this kind of behavior. The larger problem (in both cases) is that she can get others hurt. Nonetheless, Musicat, I don't want you mauled (or scratched, with all the disease problems that can follow.)

[Dr. Rieux]

Originally Posted by asterion

Things that don't live in my backyard (and I'm very glad for that) include:

Raccoons
Squirrels
Chipmunks
Deer
Alligators
Wasps
Bees
Fire ants
Coyotes

You know, I'm not sure what lives in my yard except for the occasional lizard and some insects.

That's because inteligent critters avoid living in New Mexico.

[Malacandra]

Originally Posted by Loach

Finally a suggestion that might work! I'll be waiting for my package.

Loach, to potential house buyer: "Yes, we used to be plagued with raccoons, about three, maybe four years back, but now the alligators have cleared them out... Hey, wait! Come back!"

[LouisB]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Excellent idea. Please package and ship approximately three large alligators to Wisconsin and one to New Jersey posthaste.

Oh, and here is the link to the thread that pissed me off.

I'm too old to be chasing alligators; come to Florida for your next vacation and take a few home with you. We've got plenty and won't miss them.

I first saw Florida in 1966; I came here to accept a job in Fort Myers. Back then, Lee County was still pretty much the real Florida and real Florida crackers were still to be found. I even found a few who thought raccoons were delicious. So there's your answer; kill 'em and eat 'em.

[Tuckerfan]

Originally Posted by Qadgop the Mercotan

QtM, using every bit that nature provides............

Uh, QtM, you don't do anything like perform circumcisions, do you? 'Cause I'm thinkin' I don't wanna know what you do with those "leftovers."

[Baldwin]

Musicat, I'm sure you mean well. But listen: the raccoons don't need you. They can feed themselves. If you really want to feed them from your own hands so you can look into their beady little scavenger eyes, then make the commitment to build some kind of enclosure where you can keep them for the rest of their lives. The alternative is to leave them alone and let them be wild animals.

As it is, all you're doing is taming them just enough to get them killed. If you keep doing it, it'll be out of willful stupidity.

[ExTank]

Originally Posted by Beaucarnea

Also brought to you by a treehugging, earthloving, vegetarian, gardening liberal granola eating naturegirl who also hates to see anything killed unnecessarily. But if you keep feeding the fucking raccoons, it will be necessary to kill them.

I'm a conservatrive, gun-owning, kill-it-and-grill-it kinda guy, and I'm in pretty total agreement with you vis-a-vis Musicat.

Musicat: mankind's burgeoning population coupled with (sub)urban sprawl has encroached more and more into the habitats of wild animals. This isn't in-and-of-itself a bad thing, as long as you remember that they are wild animals, and making them dependent upon humans for food only leads to more cute and beutiful critters getting squished underneath autombile tires, or having their internal organs explode from their bodily orifices due to the rapid transfer of kinetic energy in the form of blunt force trauma as the grill of your car/truck impacts them, all because they're hanging around human habitat looking for a free lunch.

And, as Beaucarnea has pointed out, several species who would otherwise be thriving are being wiped out due to mankind's destruction of their natural habitat. That isn't "natural selection" at work; it isn't "The Circle of Life."

So, her call to try to help endangered species isn't a selfish value judgement about what deserves to live, and what doesn't. It's a responsible recognition that we humans can and do have (sometimes wholly unintended) negative impacts on natural habitats, and that it is also our responsibility to try to preserve and restore these mankind-destroyed habitats so that entire species aren't wiped from the face of the earth in order to support our Better Homes & Gardens.

[Turek]

Originally Posted by Baldwin

As it is, all you're doing is taming them just enough to get them killed. If you keep doing it, it'll be out of willful stupidity.

I'm waiting for the pit thread that goes like this:

"My neighbor keeps feeding the neighborhood raccoons. I've tried to get her to stop, but she insists it's her 'right.' But the damn things keep getting in my trash (yes, I latch it tightly). They tear up my my patio. They burrow under my house. They terrorize my children, looking for handouts. My children! for og's sake! I know I live in a rural area and wildlife is part of the charm, but these little vermin are possibly rabid. And they're near my children. My babies!!!

So I got my husband to get his .22 and shoot the little masked fuckers. That'll teach them to get near my kids. Maybe I should leave their bodies where my neighbor can find them."

[asterion]

Whatever else you guys do, please don't decorate roadkill raccoons.

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Turek

Can I add a 6th?

Thanks.

6) Because it'll get in the ceiling of your building, eat the poison the exterminator laid out, die, and release it's bodily fluids... directly above your boss who's sitting in a meeting in the conference room.

No, she wasn't too happy when dead raccoon piss fell on her.

Nope, sorry, this is the first reason FOR feeding raccoons I have seen.

[Turek]

Originally Posted by Rick

Nope, sorry, this is the first reason FOR feeding raccoons I have seen.

Nah, she's a good boss. Your Boss May Vary.

[Bookkeeper]

6. Leads to this.

[Wile E]

Musicat, so you're not worried about rabies. You think it's rare in your area. Would another really horrible disease carried by raccons convince you?

Raccoons can harbor some really bad zoonotic parasites like
Baylisascaris

or

Leptospirosis

or

Lyme disease

So people are not discouraging you from feeding raccoons because we're big meanies. It is really a bad idea for humans and the animals. Aside from potential disease exposure or injury to humans, causing wild animals to lose their fear of humans is also dangerous to the animal. Wild animals should be observed but not interfered with.

[CannyDan]

Good grief! I spend my working life caring for sick, injured and orphaned wild animals, so I hope that my 'caring credentials' are beyond question. But I am also a biologist, and I recognize that my work must remain within biological realities. I certainly do not hate raccoons. They are bright, adaptable, fascinating critters. The memory of my first orphaned litter still warms the cockles of my flinty old heart. And over the years I've been able to put quite a few of them back into appropriate native habitats. But...

Raccoons are one of the few species whose populations actually rise (rather than decline) in close contact with humans. Even accidental feeding (garbage and road kill) causes their populations to grow beyond the levels of a normal, balanced ecosystem. Deliberate feeding drives this population increase even further.

Note that raccoons are not simply scavengers, but are opportunistic predators. When their population is artificially expanded, populations of prey species (meaning almost anything smaller than a raccoon) are diminished. This has a significant negative impact, not just on those prey species, but on competing predators as well. So there will be fewer mice, rats, voles, nesting birds, snakes, frogs, etc. as well as fewer hawks, owls, skunks, foxes, etc. This is certainly not a service to the ecosystem as a whole.

Neither is it a service to the raccoons. In these artificially maintained populations, diseases and parasites are rampant, tansmitted from one raccoon to another far more frequently than at normal population densities. (Think: one flu carrier on a crowded airplane.) The animals are continually physically stressed, and their stress grows as the population increases.

Physical stress also occurs from ingestion of contaminated foodstuffs. I don't know about other people's garbage, but mine contains food scraps along with lots of things that are hardly food. Think discarded medicines, household cleansers (or the rags and sponges used with them), household pesticides, and lots more that I would never deliberately feed to an animal but that a garbage-foraging coon will find along with my apple cores.

They are also psychologically stressed by over-crowding. Their intra- and inter-specific behaviors are warped, and become even more abberant as the population grows, becomes more and more dense, wild resources diminish, and the coons become ever more dependant upon human food sources. These animals have almost zero ability to 'revert' or to survive in the absence of human supplementation. Their whole behavioral system, a lifetime of habits, mitigates against it.

Musicat, your attitude toward this amazes me. "What happens if I move or die? Either someone else will take over, or the population of some animals will adjust." So after you admittedly create a problem, in your absence they can just go to hell? Well most of them won't go to hell. They will go to your neighbors. At least short term. They will perforce continue the behaviors you have so well taught them. While your neighbors may tolerate a few raccoons straying from your feeding stations, I doubt they will remain as sanguine when the entire gang descends on their yards. Somebody (more likely several some-bodys), in the name of human safety or the safety of their domestic animals, is gonna get out their guns, their traps, or their bowls of antifreeze.

None of this is a service to the people involved, their pets and livestock, the native ecosystem, or the raccoons themselves.

One way or the other though, the balance will eventually be restored. Raccoons will once again be relatively rare high order predators in a balanced ecosystem. Too bad all the ones you so loved won't be among them.