# What should I do with a captured raccoon? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 14, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479 "2012-08-14T16:28:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/1 "2012-08-14T16:28:06Z")
Today Mrs. J. reports that our Havahart trap is hosting a “large, fat. angry” raccoon. It is fat because it has been feasting on my ripening sweet corn. Apparently it decided the tunafish I baited the trap with was more succulent. Its fate is in your hands. ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/2 "2012-08-14T16:33:36Z")
We always just hoisted the crate up in the back of the truck and went and released him by a river or other body of water. It was more complicated with a skunk, but we’d do them that way, too. /appalachian dialect ---
**Author:** ![jacobsta811](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jacobsta811/32/2893_2.png) [@jacobsta811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacobsta811)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/3 "2012-08-14T16:38:26Z")
Um, kill it - if its problematic for you “releasing” it to somebody else just makes it their problem. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/4 "2012-08-14T16:48:05Z")
What do you do with the other animals you catch? If there’s an animal control authority in your district, I’d probably call them. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/5 "2012-08-14T16:54:43Z")
Release raccoon; where is irrelevant. Purchase electric fencing to deter all subsequent corn thieves. BTW, shouldn’t your sweet corn be ready to harvest? ETA: For your consumption, I mean. It’s obviously met the raccoon’s standards. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/6 "2012-08-14T16:57:15Z")
Eat that ugly thing! You know it’s corn fed, so how bad could it be? ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/7 "2012-08-14T17:01:40Z")
If it were at my house, I’d call Animal Control. Is that not an option where you are? ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/8 "2012-08-14T17:03:16Z")
> [@jacobsta811](#): > > Um, kill it - if its problematic for you “releasing” it to somebody else just makes it their problem. Yup. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/9 "2012-08-14T17:06:17Z")
He’s the only thing between you and a proper hat. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/10 "2012-08-14T17:10:41Z")
Fatten him up on a diet of persimmons, no more fish or meat. Make a hat out of the skin, and and burgoo with meat. Put the head on a pike out in the cornfield if you don’t need another hat or more burgoo. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/11 "2012-08-14T17:20:53Z")
Here in Eastern Tennessee, this wouldn’t be a topic of debate. We always take the little critters out of the trap, dress them up in clown suits and sell them to the traveling circus. . . . . . . . . . . . . OK, just joshing. Really, we kill, skin and eat them. Don’t taste as good as possum, but at least they’re relatively clean. I hate having to worm the younglings after we eat tainted possum. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/12 "2012-08-14T17:23:33Z")
It is a disease vector for many nasty things. > **[Healthfully](https://healthfully.com/89830-diseases-raccoons-can-spread-humans.html)** > > Find your way to better health. Kill it, handle carefully, use gloves. ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/13 "2012-08-14T17:24:46Z")
Either kill it or let it go. Relocating wildlife is not nearly as humane a solution as it may at first appear … and it is illegal in many states. One example: [Relocating Wildlife](http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/relocating-wildlife/) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/14 "2012-08-14T18:00:00Z")
Is there a wildlife rehabilitator in your area? Or you could contact your state Fish and Game commission. They should be glad to take the raccoon off your hands and deal with it appropriately. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/15 "2012-08-14T18:35:15Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > BTW, shouldn’t your sweet corn be ready to harvest? ETA: For your consumption, I mean. It’s obviously met the raccoon’s standards. Half-ripe doesn’t make it for me. > [@cochrane](#): > > Is there a wildlife rehabilitator in your area? I’m not sure what a wildlife “rehabilitator” is. Do they hold interventions? Arrange varmint group therapy? At least we caught a raccoon, and not something harder to deal with. I wouldn’t enjoy messing with an angry skunk or (as happened years ago) a neighbor’s cat allowed to roam free. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/16 "2012-08-14T18:41:01Z")
Hey, you’re not top o’ the food chain for nothin’. Varmint owes you, what, a buck fifty for all that corn he ate? Well, racoons don’t carry cash… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/17 "2012-08-14T18:53:48Z")
Other: Throw him in the brig until he gets sober. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/18 "2012-08-14T19:00:07Z")
Even if you released him far away from population centers, there are two potential problems for the raccoon: 1. If this faraway place is a good place for raccoons to live, you’ll probably be setting him loose in another raccoon’s territory. There’ll be a fight and one raccoon is going to kill the other, or hurt it seriously. 2. If this faraway place is NOT a good place for raccoons, he may starve. ---
**Author:** ![Enocavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e480ec/32.png) [@Enocavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enocavy)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/19 "2012-08-14T19:02:56Z")
Domesticate him. He can sit in the good chair in the family room, eat peanuts, and watch TV with the rest of the household. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/20 "2012-08-14T19:05:34Z")
Serious question here. Cat caught a rat the other day. It wasn’t in good shape so I had to send it to the pearly gates. I really couldnt bring myself to drown it, shoot it (no gun and city limits), bash in its skull, chop its head off, or bury it half alive. Then, it occured to me that I had some car starter fluild. Ether basically. So, I etherized it. Seemed to work pretty well actually. Any thoughts on that? Personally, I would have loved to have a chamber where the oxygen level slowly decreased but I don’t have that (yet). PS, if you domesticate the thing make sure to get some of this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/13cS7oQwCHc/hqdefault.jpg "Hannah Montana Coon Repellent") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13cS7oQwCHc) link safe for work and family [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479.md?page=2)