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Undead Racoon
Aug. 4th, 2009 08:57 pmA strange racoon has been gracing the deck in my backyard for the past few nights. The first night, she opened a rubbermaid container in which I keep insect poisons. The following night, she opened a large bag of Firestrike...poison for fire ants...and ate half of it! The next night, she returned and finished it off!
The night after, she was back. This time she made a mess, dragging all of the insect poisons out as well as weed and grass killer. Although I didn't realize it, that had only been a scouting expedition. The following night, she was able to pry the lid off of a large container of Amdro (brand new one at that!). When I found it the next morning, the container was empty and on the other side of the yard. She did not disturb anything else on the shelf...just the Amdro. I moved the remaining insect poison to a higher shelf (but honestly thought she would just climb up and push it off).
Instead of bemoaning the state of things when there was no ant poison within the usual container/shelf, she decided to expand her tastes. The next thing to go was one of three containers of weed killer. She gnawed a hole in the top and the rest was history. During the following nights, the other contaiers were likewise emptied.
Finally, I ran out of poison. She returned one final night, just to make certain. It was then that I met her two babies. Very cute.
Her diet for at least two weeks was poison; fire ant poison, insect poison and weed and grass killer. The last time I saw her, she was fat and happy. Her coat was glossy and she seemed to be in a rather good mood for a racoon.
The hellishly small print on the poisons make it clear that the stuff is not to be ingested and will kill. HA! Dogs, cats and people maybe...but not Undead Racoon!
The night after, she was back. This time she made a mess, dragging all of the insect poisons out as well as weed and grass killer. Although I didn't realize it, that had only been a scouting expedition. The following night, she was able to pry the lid off of a large container of Amdro (brand new one at that!). When I found it the next morning, the container was empty and on the other side of the yard. She did not disturb anything else on the shelf...just the Amdro. I moved the remaining insect poison to a higher shelf (but honestly thought she would just climb up and push it off).
Instead of bemoaning the state of things when there was no ant poison within the usual container/shelf, she decided to expand her tastes. The next thing to go was one of three containers of weed killer. She gnawed a hole in the top and the rest was history. During the following nights, the other contaiers were likewise emptied.
Finally, I ran out of poison. She returned one final night, just to make certain. It was then that I met her two babies. Very cute.
Her diet for at least two weeks was poison; fire ant poison, insect poison and weed and grass killer. The last time I saw her, she was fat and happy. Her coat was glossy and she seemed to be in a rather good mood for a racoon.
The hellishly small print on the poisons make it clear that the stuff is not to be ingested and will kill. HA! Dogs, cats and people maybe...but not Undead Racoon!
