# Stanky Raccoon- Request Advice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 16, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220 "2018-06-16T20:34:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/41 "2018-06-18T00:26:03Z")
I’m not worried about having been bitten. I wasn’t in a sound sleep as I became aware of the situation when the little dog began his bark. I heard the wings flapping and the only mystery at that point was whether it was a bird or a bat. Bats aren’t aggressive and it was just down to his panic that had me concerned about how to deal with him. They don’t bite unless they feel threatened. I wasn’t threatening him. He’s just lost. Bats can carry rabies, but it’s not common. He wasn’t acting in a non-batlike manner so no indication of rabies. Getting bit by a bat is almost unheard of if you’re not actually handling one. I appreciate the concern, **jaycat**. If I had even a notion I’d actually come into contact with the animal, I wouldn’t hesitate to see a doc. And **burpo** , I’m always up to date on tetanus… it’s just prudent if you live rural. Thanks to you both for the suggestions and information. Tell you what: If I stop posting altogether, you can assume I’ve died a horrible, lonely death due to untreated rabies despite your warnings. :smack: For now, I just hope he’ll accept my twilight invitation to leave the room. Naturally we’re practically at the solstice, twilight isn’t until nearly 9:00 p.m. and I must hope I can see him when he leaves. He’s probably pretty hungry and thirsty by now and that will act as inducement. I just want to change the sheets and sleep in my own bed tonight instead of one of the guest beds. Wish us luck. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/42 "2018-06-18T00:49:33Z")
why can’t we have any of those awesome flying foxes like they do over on the other side of the planet? we just have these tiny, freakish looking things. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/43 "2018-06-18T00:51:55Z")
I just want to know what happened with the raccoon balloon! ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/44 "2018-06-18T01:00:47Z")
Surely he’ll tell us soon, what happened to the raccoon balloon! ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/45 "2018-06-18T01:46:46Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I just want to know what happened with the raccoon balloon! But I also wanna know what happened with the bat. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/46 "2018-06-18T03:44:33Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > But I also wanna know what happened with the bat. I think he has gone. Damn, they’re quick. I was sitting outside just beyond the wide open door nearly 45 minutes before actual twilight, so I had good light to spot him as he left. It was raining a bit. I hoped the smell of the rain would entice him out to look for water. There I lurked, waving off annoying little gnatty things with my eyes mostly fixed on the exit. Despite my vigilance, I never saw him go. Finally checked to see if he was still hanging in the spot where he’d last parked himself in the room. He was gone, leaving behind an inconvenient dirty mark in the highest corner. It will be a bitch to wash away. I’ll look again in a little while to make sure. I hope I’m right and he’s made good on his escape. We’ll both be very happy. But my bat issues pale in comparison to the challenges of dealing with a decomposing raccoon corpse. I really hope for an update soon! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/47 "2018-06-18T12:38:11Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Garden lime and burial is your only hope. Yep, have dealt with dead raccoons, foxes, possums, etc many times. Dig a hole, roll the carcass into the hole, add some lime if handy, cover with soil. TaDa! > [@Merneith](#): > > For $50 you can probably find someone on craigslist. Sure, but what about the raccoon? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/48 "2018-06-18T16:03:17Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Get real close, and poke it with a short, sharp stick. I have to admit, that was my first impulse as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/49 "2018-06-18T20:29:36Z")
Who owns the ground the raccoon is lying on? You probably don’t have any particular right to dig graves in any land but your own, and I sense some reasonable hesitancy to drag a putrid rot-bomb back to your property. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/50 "2018-06-18T20:35:16Z")
Its gonna be a stinky day when that thing bursts. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/51 "2018-06-18T22:28:37Z")
DOT? Does that mean you’re in Texas? If so, call your county extension agency. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/52 "2018-06-18T22:33:38Z")
I’m a little surprised the local scavengers have not been to town on it yet. I promise you, out here in the hinterlands, two nights max and the coyotes would have devoured it. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/53 "2018-06-18T23:47:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Sure, but what about the raccoon? Craigslist has that covered, too - just list it as “free raccoon”. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/54 "2018-06-19T00:14:46Z")
Two bags of cedar chips, pour over carcass. It should soak up a lot of the liquid and defeat some of the odour that will ensue upon bursting. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/55 "2018-06-19T00:58:15Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Garden lime and burial is your only hope. You don’t have to bury it, just dump a bag of quicklime on top of it. It might take a season or two for the grass to recover, but the smell will be dealt with. I don’t know but that I might let the bugs take care of it though. Once they take hold the wet smelly bits are usually gone in a day. If you put the quicklime on, they’ll die and the longer, slower (but less smelly) breakdown process will take place. > [@jaycat](#): > > Aspenglow: If you woke up to find a bat flying around your bedroom, you may have been bitten. From what I understand, you can be bitten by a bat and never feel it. Which means, you should probably get rabies shots, pronto. I’ve heard this about South American bats that feed on the blood of cattle. But AFAIK all the North American bats feed on insects, and can’t/won’t do this. There are some nasty diseases you can get from their guano though. ---
**Author:** ![LordHarry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@LordHarry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordHarry)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/56 "2018-06-19T01:16:11Z")
UPDATE!!! I placed notices online, offerring $50 for raccoon retrieval. No soap. An older white lady, the kind that DEFINITELY wants to speak with the manager accidentally walked her chihuahua, which wore a little pink suit, near the raccoon. She was none pleased! I informed her of my chat with the local constabulary. She strongly asserted that the raccoon was not a raccoon, but in fact a cat. She felt it most immoral that a cat would be dead in the road, without benefit of government services to dispatch it. I encouraged her to summon all of her nice white cisgender heterosexual middle class outrage and summon the local constabulary. I am a very obviously queer transman of dubious ethnicity and this is a strong red area in a mostly blue state. Trust and believe the police do not support my attempts at communication. But her, probably. Meanwhile, the corpse continued. I was hopeful yesterday that the corpse was deflating, and with deflation would come less stank. This was not so. Today, it is 90+ degrees. The stank has grown to a degree most foul. A stank unbeknownst previously. It has also briefly rained. This seems to have also increased the smell. Spread it out a bit. The corpse has slightly rolled into the median. The grass is long. My current hope is that municipal lawn care will come to tend to the median and insist the animal be collected for worker safety and sanitation. Failing that, I hope they run over it with an industrial mower, as perhaps if spread across a large area it will desiccate and cease to smell. Down the road, a skunk and a gopher have joined the party. My street jogging is most difficult. This lack of collection, I should add, is new. In previous years I have witnessed road collection. Perhaps it could be bagged and taken to the dumpster located at the police office? Empathy training, gratis. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/57 "2018-06-19T01:25:19Z")
> [@LordHarry](#): > > UPDATE!!! > . . . > The stank has grown to a degree most foul. A stank unbeknownst previously. It has also briefly rained. This seems to have also increased the smell. Spread it out a bit. > > The corpse has slightly rolled into the median. The grass is long. > . . . OK, seriously, you don’thave to live like this. It’s time. [Just get some quicklime](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pennington-30-lb-Fast-Acting-Lime-Plus-AST-100519383/205876384)and dump the bag over top of it. Or maybe dump half the bag and save the other half in case it rains. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/58 "2018-06-19T01:32:54Z")
And in case you need some perspective on the problem: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XVVW8BferzQ/maxresdefault.jpg "The Exploding Whale: The Greatest News Broadcast In Television History") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVVW8BferzQ) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/59 "2018-06-19T01:32:55Z")
Are you in the city limits? ---
**Author:** ![LordHarry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@LordHarry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordHarry)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220/60 "2018-06-19T01:33:30Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > OK, seriously, you don’thave to live like this. It’s time. [Just get some quicklime](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Pennington-30-lb-Fast-Acting-Lime-Plus-AST-100519383/205876384)and dump the bag over top of it. Or maybe dump half the bag and save the other half in case it rains. Rain is imminent, but will procure tomorrow. Could a leaf blower be used to push it into the street further, to facilitate abrupt spreading, thus allowing rain to wash some away and tomorrow desiccation? You are damn right that I will go shirtless in pajama bottoms with a leaf blower, if so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stanky-raccoon-request-advice/816220.md?page=4)