Injured raccoon

[waltappel 1]

For all of you that hate raccoons, I'll say up front that I'm guilty as charged if you want to call me a wimp.

I've just spent the last 45 minutes or so making my way through the brush just outside the property line of the apartment complex I live in. This complex borders an a sort of informal wildlife refuge and I put food out for the raccoons every night.

Tonight a raccoon came up to eat and he was missing his front left paw. Maybe it was cut off or bit off by another animal--I don't know. There wasn't any bleeding, but what was left looked really raw like it was a fresh wound.

This is an adult raccoon and probably a male, judging by the size, so it's potentially a dangerous animal, but I can't stand the sight of a wounded animal.

I'm going to try like hell to catch him and get him to wildlife rehab.

I don't think putting out a live trap will do the job because there are a bunch of raccoons around here. I doubt he can climb, so he is probably ground-bound, which will help.

I'll appreciate any suggestions. This is really making me sick thinking about that poor raccoon.

edited to add:

My blood pressure is back down some. I still haven't found the injured raccoon, but while out there looking, I saw several of my other raccoons plus two oppossums. I've been feeding these guys for several months but haven't been watching them for a while now. Other than the injured guy, they are really starting to look like fat, healthy, and happy raccons. I hope I can catch the injured raccoon!

Walt

[BRYANGOESBOOM 0]

easy fix

shoot it

Not only will you look better, feel better, and fuck better; you'll have significantly increased your life expectancy. --Douva

[waltappel 1]

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easy fix

shoot it

Very funny. I understand why a bunch of people really hate raccoons. They really are evil little bastards, but they're so cute looking I gotta love 'em.

edited to add:

I would definitely rather give an injured animal a quick and relatively painless death rather than let him die a slow and painful one. This injured raccoon can probably be helped if I can catch him in time, though.

Walt

[BRYANGOESBOOM 0]

well without a front paw i wouldnt think it would live for much longer even if you did patch him up

my gf's grandmother has a few as pets they are cute but can get evil really quick

Not only will you look better, feel better, and fuck better; you'll have significantly increased your life expectancy. --Douva

[waltappel 1]

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well without a front paw i wouldnt think it would live for much longer even if you did patch him up

my gf's grandmother has a few as pets they are cute but can get evil really quick

I think you're right. It would have to be a captive raccoon for the rest of its life. Not such a bad deal for the raccoon in the right environment, though.

The raccoon can walk just fine and is eating ok--at least for now.

Walt

[RhondaLea 4]

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I'll appreciate any suggestions. This is really making me sick thinking about that poor raccoon.

I was a wildlife rehabilitator for many years, and during that time, I had loads of babies to rear and release every summer. Recently, I had a mama scoonie caring for her babies underneath the deck. I am fond of most critters, but scoons are my favorite.

That said, there isn't much you can do for an injured adult raccoon, Walt, except shoot it.

The one thing you don't want to do is catch it in a way that could expose you to its teeth. Adult raccoons are very prone to biting even if they've been hand-reared. The bite can be painful and disfiguring. They also scratch like you wouldn't believe. (I still have some faint scars on my arms.) And depending on where the rabies wave has settled at the moment, the scoonie may not be safe to handle at all.

But a scoonie without a paw is crippled in the worst way. And captivity is no good answer--even hand-reared babies rarely thrive if they're kept overlong.

You can't do much for the already injured animal, but you might want to go looking for what caused the injury. It's not likely that it was another animal. More likely, someone has laid out a trap.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[mnealtx 0]

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well without a front paw i wouldnt think it would live for much longer even if you did patch him up

my gf's grandmother has a few as pets they are cute but can get evil really quick

As a general rule (livestock excepted), God gave 'em 3 legs and a spare. A lot of critters can make it with 3 legs - obviously not as well as with 4, but they usually *CAN* survive...

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[BRYANGOESBOOM 0]

BULLSHIT

sorry to disagree

Not only will you look better, feel better, and fuck better; you'll have significantly increased your life expectancy. --Douva

[mnealtx 0]

Please note I said "as a generality"....

Also, seeing as how my ex was a vet tech...I've seen the proof of it both with domesticated and wild animals... what's your experience with it?

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[RhondaLea 4]

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Please note I said "as a generality"....

Also, seeing as how my ex was a vet tech...I've seen the proof of it both with domesticated and wild animals... what's your experience with it?

As a generality, this is factual as to domestic pets, however, it is not often true with wild animals. It's a hard life out there, most wildlife has a relatively short lifespan (six months is average for a wild rabbit), and a critter with a disability has a very tough row to hoe.

Dog-like creatures (foxes, wolves) may have a decent chance of survival with a missing paw, but a scoon, like a squirrel or any other creature that actually uses its "hands" is going to have a difficult time compensating for a lost front foot. It cannot climb with three limbs, it cannot manipulate its food with one foot.

I would sooner kill a disabled adult animal--and I have, barehanded in one instance because it was the only option open to me at the time--than keep it in captivity or doom it to a short, miserable existence back in the wild.

As I said up above, I was a wildlife rehabilitator for many years. I forgot to mention that I was licensed by both New Jersey Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[masterrig 1]

Knowing what I do about raccoons, the little guy will have a rough time of it. I'm sure, you're aware, they use both front paws to eat with. If, he's a healthy animal and does not have rabies, I'd go ahead and set a live trap or two. Since he's used to being fed by you, he'll more than likely return to where he finds his hand-outs. In the mean-time, I'd get with a Conservation/Natural resources officer or Fish and game officer and see what they have to say. Wild critters, especially 'coons', are tough critters. As was mentioned, he may have been caught in a trap and chewed his foot off or twisted it off. I feel, in the right hands, he'll be o.k. Let meknow, how it goes. Just be careful.
edit to add: A lot of times, the Fish and Game or Natural Resources folks, will sometimes supply a trap at no charge. That, has been my experience.


Chuck

[Acensky 0]

We had the same thing happen at my house to. the raccoon had its paw just hanging on by a tendon and it had a chunk missing from its neck.
I called the local wildlife people and told them the story and they came by with a net and sat on the back porch waiting for it to show up. It did and they put a net around it and gave it a shot to calm it down. To make a long story short it is alive and living in a wildlife rehab place for the rest of its life.

Good Luck!

Heather

Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

[waltappel 1]

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You can't do much for the already injured animal, but you might want to go looking for what caused the injury. It's not likely that it was another animal. More likely, someone has laid out a trap.

rl

Thanks, rhondaLea. You never cease to amaze me.

I thought about the possibility of a trap and was looking for one while I making my way through the brush. If I find one, I *will* find the fucker who put it there, and he *will* find out first hand what it feels like to get bit by his trap.

I know adult raccoons are dangerous, but I'm going to continue to look for this one. If putting him down is the right answer, then that's what I'll need to do. I just can't stand knowing that he is out there hurt like that.

Walt

[RhondaLea 4]

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I thought about the possibility of a trap and was looking for one while I making my way through the brush. If I find one, I *will* find the fucker who put it there, and he *will* find out first hand what it feels like to get bit by his trap.

Call if you need bail money.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[waltappel 1]

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I thought about the possibility of a trap and was looking for one while I making my way through the brush. If I find one, I *will* find the fucker who put it there, and he *will* find out first hand what it feels like to get bit by his trap.

Call if you need bail money.

rl

Thanks--but if I find a trap and give the asshole who put it there his due, I'll consider it my contribution to making the world a better place.

Walt

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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I put food out for the raccoons every night.

>snip<

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I've been feeding these guys for several months

Are you NUTS?! These animals can get as large as small bears, and as many have said, are wild and can be very vicious. I have seen a family that had been 'fed' completely take over my uncle's summer home deck and try to kill their dogs. The bastards got so bold as to lean against the windows on the deck and growl at occupants inside the house because they had no more food for them. These guys killed cats and other pets, too.

And no it wasn't an isolated incident...that was in Maine, I also have experience with 'fed' wild raccoons over here on the west coast. We were camping in a national park and these cute, adorable raccoon families wandered through the park looking for hand outs. Cute and adorable until they started growling at you and your pets.

Feeding wild animals does them such a disservice; they forget how to hunt for themselves in the wild.

Ok kudos for trying to help the injured animal, but if you are drawing him near people with food, you are setting him up for failure.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

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[waltappel 1]

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I've been feeding these guys for several months

Are you NUTS?!

Wouldn't be hard to make a good case against me!

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These animals can get as large as small bears, and as many have said, are wild and can be very vicious. I have seen a family that had been 'fed' completely take over my uncle's summer home deck and try to kill their dogs. The bastards got so bold as to lean against the windows on the deck and growl at occupants inside the house because they had no more food for them. These guys killed cats and other pets, too.

This is a little different situation here. I live in a highly developed area--Houston, TX. There happens to be a flood plain in between a cluster of several apartment complexes along Buffalo Bayou. There are tons of critters in there, including raccoons.

As you know, raccoons have a spectacular ability to adapt to living around people. They raid the dumpsters and outdoor pet food bowls. I feed the raccoons outside of the fence line. They prefer it that way and so do I. They're mean, antisocial little bastards that want nothing to do with people, but they aren't going anywhere because they have adapted to living off of our scraps. By feeding them outside the fenceline, they tend to come one the property just a little less often.

Walt

[RhondaLea 4]

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Are you NUTS?! These animals can get as large as small bears, and as many have said, are wild and can be very vicious. I have seen a family that had been 'fed' completely take over my uncle's summer home deck and try to kill their dogs. The bastards got so bold as to lean against the windows on the deck and growl at occupants inside the house because they had no more food for them. These guys killed cats and other pets, too.

This is strange. My recent mama scoonie co-existed quite peacefully with the neighborhood feral cats--they even shared the same food dish, although it was not my intention to feed her.

Scoonies don't growl. They do make a trilling, gargling sound that, after all these years, I can no longer imitate, but I suppose to some ears it might sound like growling. It is the equivalent of a cat's purr. It is also the sound they make when they're begging.

I've never known a raccoon to start a fight with a cat or dog. But they will finish any fight that another creature starts.

We feed birds, and no one bats an eye. At the nature center where I worked, we fed the deer and maintained a salt lick so the visitors could sit in the blind and watch them. There are good reasons not to feed bread and corn to waterfowl and there are even better reasons not to feed bears, but if you're prepared for the small nuisance of squirrels in your feeders and raccoons in your garbage cans, the entertainment value more than pays the nuisance tax.

And no wild creature will ever forget how to hunt for itself.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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By feeding them outside the fenceline, they tend to come one the property just a little less often.

Walt

For now, sweetie, but this happened to my uncle's family over the course of a couple of years, if memory serves.

You're right, they are amazingly adaptable, but just wait until they figure out that generally, humans have no claws or teeth or anything to drive them back (without a weapon) and pets are easy pickins'. It won't remain a fairy tale like it is now for ya. If they CAN get onto your property now, it won't be too long until they are on it constantly.

Then the sad part begins. Animal control has to try to catch them or put them down for safety issues. I've been there.

I hope there is a way to maintain a healthy distance, but please Walt the second you see that 'healthy distance' begin to shrink, you MUST think of them, yourself, and your neighbors, kids, pets...everything, and cut it off before it gets ugly.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Scoonies don't growl. They do make a trilling, gargling sound that, after all these years, I can no longer imitate, but I suppose to some ears it might sound like growling. It is the equivalent of a cat's purr. It is also the sound they make when they're begging.

These did. Maybe more of a gutteral grunting, but while baring their teeth, what else would you call it? Maybe you have a better term for it, but it was a threatening and aggressive noise as the animal is bearing it's teeth. -I guess more akin to a hissing cat with some grunting than a growling dog? Anyhoo, it wasn't pleasant.

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I've never known a raccoon to start a fight with a cat or dog.

Over food? Yes. They will. I saw it. Again, not in just one situation. I saw it with both sets of raccoons on the east and west coasts.

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We feed birds, and no one bats an eye. At the nature center where I worked, we fed the deer and maintained a salt lick so the visitors could sit in the blind and watch them. There are good reasons not to feed bread and corn to waterfowl and there are even better reasons not to feed bears, but if you're prepared for the small nuisance of squirrels in your feeders and raccoons in your garbage cans, the entertainment value more than pays the nuisance tax.

Side note: Grey squirrels have become more than a 'nuisance' at my college campus!! There was a whole article done in our paper about them getting bolder and bolder, and one attacked a student (jumped onto her arm and bit her when she stopped giving it food)

I LOVE watching raccoons, but I will never do anything to tempt them closer to a human environment. Humans just have a tendency to f*ck up anything with wild animals. -Feeding birds and deer? Sure, I mean from a safety standpoint, what are they gonna do? Bite? Claw? Nope.

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And no wild creature will ever forget how to hunt for itself.
rl

I'm sorry but I must disagree here, too. I'll link the article if I can find it. A-ha, here's one from Florida: http://www.floridastateparks.org/oleno/FAQ.cfm

Here's a snip from that article:

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To protect you and the park’s wildlife, it is unlawful to feed the animals. Wild animals, overfed by handouts, will sometimes lose their ability to hunt for their own food. This may cause them to starve when handouts are scarce. When given handouts animals lose their fear of people and can become bold and aggressive. No matter how tame or friendly a wild animal may seem, its natural instinct is to get food.

I was looking for info on a cougar attack that was spurned due to the cat feeding off of farms and failing to be able to hunt in the wild...can't find it. But that's my point anyhoo.

Edit 'cuz I spelled 'deer' like 'dear'. I'm a dork.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[waltappel 1]

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Side note: Grey squirrels have become more than a 'nuisance' at my college campus!! There was a whole article done in our paper about them getting bolder and bolder, and one attacked a student (jumped onto her arm and bit her when she stopped giving it food)

You're really gonna think I'm screwing up for this, but I feed the grey squirrels around my apartment. They are evil, mean, antisocial little bastards that totally hate people.

And yes, they are cute as all gitout.

I used to let them in my apartment. They would jump on the couch and get food from me and then run back outside.

I've got some hysterical video of the squirrels and i've been looking for a place on the web to put it. As soon as I find a place, I'll post a link.

Walt

[RhondaLea 4]

I've had raccoons bare their teeth at me. I've had them bite me. Hard. I've bitten them back--harder--if you really want to know, because that's what mama scoon does, and I stood in loco parentis. Gray squirrels too (and boy, does that hurt, because they don't let go). I've just never seen what you're describing, nor have I heard of it until now.

About the deer...we ended up with a problem when we released some of our hand-reared fawns on park property, and after that, we had to release them elsewhere. A deer will rear up and put its hooves on you. In a fawn, this is no big deal--they do it to get to the bottle. In an adult, serious injuries and even death can result. One of 'em broke my boss' collar bone greeting her with too much fervor.

The myth of "forgetting how to hunt" is a myth no matter who propagates it. It's a similar tactic to that used by the turtle folks to obtain a ban on small turtle sales (turtles do not carry salmonella, but they can "catch" salmonella if they're fed salmonella-contaminated food).

As for the cougar, he has not forgotten how to hunt. He's still hunting, but now he's found easier pickins.

I'll grant you that if one takes on the commitment to feed wildlife, it is not a commitment to be taken lightly. Critters don't think like we do, but even more than humans, they are creatures of habit, and they do not understand when you say "no more." Ask the guy in Lakeland, FL who was feeding alligators. Oh wait...you can't, he's dead.

If people are idiots about what they feed and how they feed, they can expect bad consequences, either to themselves or the creatures they hope to help. But it is possible to do it in a way that is dangerous neither to the wildlife nor the humans. It just takes a little more education than most people are willing to give themselves.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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I've had raccoons bare their teeth at me. I've had them bite me. Hard. I've bitten them back--harder--if you really want to know, because that's what mama scoon does, and I stood in loco parentis. Gray squirrels too (and boy, does that hurt, because they don't let go). I've just never seen what you're describing, nor have I heard of it until now.

Whoa, that is dedication to animals! The next time you see me with a raccoon's paw in my mouth, well....you won't see me with a raccoon's paw in my mouth! That's cool that you rescue animals in danger.

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As for the cougar, he has not forgotten how to hunt. He's still hunting, but now he's found easier pickins.

Right, I guess we were saying the same thing in essence, but the problem with the cougar adapting his hunting to include livestock and humans is the issue, not that the cat was laying around waiting for someone to throw him a piece of meat.

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But it is possible to do it in a way that is dangerous neither to the wildlife nor the humans. It just takes a little more education than most people are willing to give themselves.

rl

To take that time and effort would be a cool thing though. I personally wouldn't risk encouraging animals around my place, as I have kids that would not understand their behavior or when it has become a potentially unsafe situation. -The most we have around here is a big fat grey squirrel (and yes the neighbors have a squirrel feeder mounted on their tree and the lil' dude runs atop our fence line and it is really fun to see him

If a raccoon showed up, our neighborhood would do whatever we could to have him go back to where ever he came from. I imagine there are several in the woods 5 blocks up, but we all have little kids in this neighborhood and wouldn't let a stray wild animal come a knockin' for hand outs. Not that it wouldn't be cute, but I'm pretty sure we would be more concerned with the proximity of our babies to animal babies. We are ALL protective mamas, animals and humans alike. I don't think we would get along too well.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[ACMESkydiver 0]

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Side note: Grey squirrels have become more than a 'nuisance' at my college campus!! There was a whole article done in our paper about them getting bolder and bolder, and one attacked a student (jumped onto her arm and bit her when she stopped giving it food)

You're really gonna think I'm screwing up for this, but I feed the grey squirrels around my apartment. They are evil, mean, antisocial little bastards that totally hate people.

And yes, they are cute as all gitout.

I used to let them in my apartment. They would jump on the couch and get food from me and then run back outside.

I've got some hysterical video of the squirrels and i've been looking for a place on the web to put it. As soon as I find a place, I'll post a link.

Walt

We have one grey squirrel here as I listed in my above post but he doesn't come near any of us. Grey squirrels are fun, but I'll keep an eye on him. I don't want him getting as ball-sy as the ones on campus. They are like the damn squirrel Mafia or something, [GodfatherVoice]"Now, I allow you to cross my path daily. I allow you this comfort and convenience. I'm going to call in a favor. I'll be taking that sandwich, human. You give me that sandwich or you'll be swimmin' with the fishes."[/GodfatherVoice]

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[Amazon 7]

Down Jaye...


the animal kingdom is not out to get you personally....

no really....