"PETA is worried about cows in Connecticut, and here we are in Chicago, and we are the ones really suffering! More liberal B S."
| Submit your comments on this article |
| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Invading our cities |
| 2005-08-09 |
| CHICAGO, IL, United States (UPI) -- Normally content in woods and forest preserves, wild raccoons are seeking food and water in Illinois cities and villages because of the Midwest drought. Conservationists say a combination of an early spring frost that killed buds on wild fruit trees and drought now in its fourth month has stressed raccoons, forcing more of them into inhabited areas to live off garbage, worms, turtles and stolen cat and dog food. Some have become dependent on The nocturnal critters gravitate to permanent water sources such as water sprinklers on lawns during drought. The raccoons also compete for habitat with their more urban cousins who live around humans year-round. Animal control officials in northeastern Illinois relocate only a fraction of thousands of animals considered nuisance wildlife. Most are euthanized. Humans - why do they hate us? |
| Posted by:Jackal |
| #22 Lived around them all my life and I have this to say: if one out of every ten of them had a little tool belt filled withy tiny tools, we would have much bigger probelms than the ROP. Damned Moties. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-09 21:55 |
| #21 We're infested with them here in Colorado Springs. There are at least ten or twelve that live near my home. The only problem I have with them is they eat my cat and dog food, and have been known to kill a kitten or two. My next-door neighbor has a fish pond. He loses two or three of his goldfish every year to the marauders. They're not as bad a threat as the blue heron that found his pond a couple of years ago. Luckily a slingshot does a good job of 'dispersuading' all animals from staying around - except the fox that visits about twice a month. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2005-08-09 21:37 |
| #20 Lived around them all my life and I have this to say: if one out of every ten of them had a little tool belt filled withy tiny tools, we would have much bigger probelms than the ROP. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-08-09 18:37 |
| #19 What, Tony, no raccoons in London? |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-08-09 18:31 |
| #18 My grandmother had one has a house pet. They do have opposable somethings.... sucker could open up a jar of preserves. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-09 17:58 |
| #17 The best raccoon story I've heard concerned this couple who noticed them rooting through their garbage. "How cute!" said the wife, and told her husband to buy and give them some cat food. It didn't take much, and soon they had a "gaze" (large herd) of raccoons. They then decided they had better stop, before things got out of hand. But things had already gotten out of hand. The husband, the giver of cat food, soon had the eerie feeling of being watched any time he went outside. "Stalked" would be a better word for it. Unlucky for him, he only lived a few blocks from the store where he worked, a store soon visited by raccoons. Lots of them. All at the same time. The last tale was of how they were attending Sunday mass at their nearby church, when a great hue and cry came up from the rear pews. "Raccoons! Eek!" (I have no idea whatever happened after that, though.) |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-08-09 17:51 |
| #16 My first wife had a racoon brought to her as a baby in a rural area outside Toronto. Man, was that thing cute. It loved to climb on people and sit on their shoulder or even head. We used to take it down to the creek behind the house, where it would scamper through the water turning over rocks to see what it could find. Its hands were incredibly human like. It got pretty big (I think they get bigger the further north you go) and a bit aggressive. Her (big) dog was afraid of it. Released it into the wild at 4 or 5 months and it succesfully adapted and even had a litter. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-08-09 17:41 |
| #15 LOL! What a thread - keep it coming people! Sorry to hear about the ducks Deacon ;) |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2005-08-09 16:51 |
| #14 For nearly a year I had a healthy live and let live relationship with one of them at my new home. Yes, I tagged him with the hose a few times and verbally demeaned his species numerous times. One morning I walked outside to find the little thugeen had chewed through the tops of a few heavy duty garbage cans he couldn't tumble over because I had put about 35 lbs of old mortar in each to spite him. That day I declared jeeehad on old nasty furball and caged him only 2 hours after dark with a little peanut butter. Had two Jamison's to celebrate then went out to interrogate and digiphoto him for identification purposes (well, on second thought I was probably just torturing him). He was a hateful little guy once trapped. Summary execution was considered but I didn't want to be bothered cleaning up afterward. Animal control was called to do with him as they saw fit but when they came to transport him they found their racoon cage wasn't big enough for my badboy! When the control guys returned with the big cage one of them actually reached into my cage and transferred old nasty by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck! Don't try that one at home. |
| Posted by: MunkarKat 2005-08-09 16:36 |
| #13 AAAAAWWWwwwwwww..... #9 is CUTE! Wuddent you just luv to take him/her home? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-08-09 16:25 |
| #12 I captured 40 one summer in the hills of California. They are mean little critters. They are not nearly as big as they look, either. I would spray them with water first thing in the morning before animal control picked them up for relocation. They shrank to nothing as the fur got wet. They also went crazy. I was hoping that would discourage them from returning. |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-08-09 15:55 |
| #11 Raccons are adapting fast to the surburan system. I saw one little SOB trying to rip off my spinners. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-09 15:42 |
| #10 lol, Ed! On a roll, are we? |
| Posted by: BA 2005-08-09 15:34 |
| #9 "PETA is worried about cows in Connecticut, and here we are in Chicago, and we are the ones really suffering! More liberal B S." |
| Posted by: BigEd 2005-08-09 15:26 |
| #8 BA, Frank, LOL - that's about what I expect when I see "free range" chicken next to the Chilean sea bass on the menu. |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-08-09 14:29 |
| #7 lol, Frank. Even better. I really love the time I was talking to an environmental guy down in Florida. He said they'd had a public meeting about some dairies moving in to north central FL. Locals showed up, and 1 woman even said "We don't need any dairies here! I can get my milk at the grocery store!" Those city folk, I tell ya. |
| Posted by: BA 2005-08-09 14:29 |
| #6 reminds me of the Far Side cartoon: Boneless Chicken Ranch... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-08-09 14:24 |
| #5 Matt, you remind me of the last time I was down on the farm (chicken). The farmer cracked me up as he was describing what "'em city folk" want for "free range." Said the FDA/Dept. of Ag. defined free range in such a way that all the local farmers allowed their chickens to be put in big pens for a set amount of time before putting them into the houses for feeding/growth. That "definition" allowed for it and the city folk now pay $2-3 more per pound for "free range" chicken. |
| Posted by: BA 2005-08-09 13:08 |
| #4 Coyotes do make excellent targets though and are always in season. Good hunting, Deacon. |
| Posted by: PsychoHillbilly 2005-08-09 12:34 |
| #3 I don't have a problem with raccoons her at the Palace, I have a problem with coyotes. They walk within 40 or 50 feet of me and aren't the least bit afraid. They ate my ducks, the bastards. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-08-09 12:16 |
| #2 LOL - well, they really are "free range." |
| Posted by: Matt 2005-08-09 11:39 |
| #1 Harvest them, rename them Chilean Wild Goat, price it at $30 a plate, and watch the Chicagoans eat them into extinction. |
| Posted by: BH 2005-08-09 11:33 |