# 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:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/41 "2012-08-15T18:38:36Z")
_Put 'em in a pot and then we eat 'em, Put 'em in a pot and then we eat 'em, Put 'em in a pot and then we eat 'em, Early in the morning!_ (chorus) _Gives me gas, should have freed 'em, Gives me gas, should have freed 'em, Gives me gas, should have freed 'em, Early in the morning!_ (chorus) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/42 "2012-08-15T18:55:22Z")
This really seems like something you should have decided before you set out the trap… ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/43 "2012-08-15T22:07:27Z")
People actually _eat_ raccoons? That is some nasty shit, there! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/44 "2012-08-16T01:28:22Z")
Eh. I’m guess I’m in the “better gate” camp. The raccoons in my neighborhood appear to sleep in the storm sewers all day and come up at night. Where there’s one there may be a dozen. Just scold them when you catch them, throw them off your property or maybe hand them off to the authorities, and improve your fencing. ---
**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 16, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/45 "2012-08-16T07:41:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Again, assuming the area you released the raccoon in is a good place for him to live, there are undoubtedly LOTS of other raccoons living there already, and you just dropped him into another coon’s territory. > > That other coon isn’t going to welcome his new neighbor with open arms. A bloody fight is all but certain. I understood **Jackmannii** to mean that he took the raccoon to a _nearby_ farm field/wooded area for release, in which case the li’l critter is most likely still within his own territory or near enough to get back there. He’s at this very moment probably on his way back to **Jackmannii** ’s corn patch or off in another direction to look for easier pickings. If raccoons around here were that sensitive to territorial issues, all you’d hear all night long would be raccoon snarling and shrieking. They’re as thick as mosquitoes in my area. They almost universally die under the wheels of motor vehicles rather than in bloody battles with hostile rival gangs. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/46 "2012-08-16T11:17:38Z")
We shoot critters (including cats) all the time around here. And never give it a second thought. ---
**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 16, 2012, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/47 "2012-08-16T12:03:42Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#): > > I understood **Jackmannii** to mean that he took the raccoon to a _nearby_ farm field/wooded area for release, in which case the li’l critter is most likely still within his own territory or near enough to get back there. He’s at this very moment probably on his way back to **Jackmannii** ’s corn patch or off in another direction to look for easier pickings. You understood correctly. There’s a chance he’ll head back for more of my sweet corn, but there are other opportunities in the area (I doubt he’ll have much interest in the soybeans that farm field is planted in (thankfully he left _my_ beans and other vegetables alone\*), and in any case one raccoon is not going to have any measurable impact on the crop). \*on the other hand, I’ve been wondering why there aren’t any sweet peppers on the pepper plants… ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479/48 "2012-08-16T19:57:02Z")
He probably made it back to your house before you did. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-should-i-do-with-a-captured-raccoon/631479.md?page=2)