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Would you leave food out for raccoons?



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 28th 06, 06:40 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?

I have a cat but this is not about her, it is about a group of raccoons
(one adult and five children). They have been spotted sniffing around
our and our neighbors' yards and porchces this summer, mostly late
nights.

General consensus on the street is to have no food or food smells that
will attract them, and I would certainly not want to leave a trash bag
out that for them to rip apart and make a mess.

However --- and having grown up in urban areas, I have no experience
with raccoons --- part of me says they too are living creatures, hungry
and looking for food, shouldn't I leave some out for them too? It
bothers my heart that I am throwing food away they could have eaten.

I do realize it is a pack of six, not one little cute pet. I also don't
want any potential harm to my kids, my cat, my neighbor kids and cats.
(There is a Black Lab next door who I am sure can look after himself!)

So if you know raccoons, would you feed them in this situation? If so,
when and where would you leave the food?
  #2  
Old June 28th 06, 06:51 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


"Kiran" wrote in message
...
I have a cat but this is not about her, it is about a group of raccoons
(one adult and five children). They have been spotted sniffing around
our and our neighbors' yards and porchces this summer, mostly late
nights.

General consensus on the street is to have no food or food smells that
will attract them, and I would certainly not want to leave a trash bag
out that for them to rip apart and make a mess.

However --- and having grown up in urban areas, I have no experience
with raccoons --- part of me says they too are living creatures, hungry
and looking for food, shouldn't I leave some out for them too? It
bothers my heart that I am throwing food away they could have eaten.


You most certainly SHOULD NOT feed raccoons or any other wild animal. They
will become dependent on you and end up starving to death, getting hit by
vehicles, or could spread rabies to neighborhood pets.


  #3  
Old June 28th 06, 06:51 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?

"Kiran" wrote in message news

So if you know raccoons, would you feed them in this situation? If so,
when and where would you leave the food?


Absolutely not. Believe me when I tell you that you'd be opening yourself,
your family, your pets and your property up to a world of difficulty.
Racoons can forage their own food quite well without your feeding them or
encouraging them in any way to hang around.

I've got to tell you Kiran, it's quite obvious that you're a compassionate
animal person, but just the fact that you're considering feeding a family of
wild racoons borders on the insane.


  #4  
Old June 28th 06, 07:24 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


Kiran wrote:
I have a cat but this is not about her, it is about a group of raccoons
(one adult and five children). They have been spotted sniffing around
our and our neighbors' yards and porchces this summer, mostly late
nights.

General consensus on the street is to have no food or food smells that
will attract them, and I would certainly not want to leave a trash bag
out that for them to rip apart and make a mess.

However --- and having grown up in urban areas, I have no experience
with raccoons --- part of me says they too are living creatures, hungry
and looking for food, shouldn't I leave some out for them too? It
bothers my heart that I am throwing food away they could have eaten.

I do realize it is a pack of six, not one little cute pet. I also don't
want any potential harm to my kids, my cat, my neighbor kids and cats.
(There is a Black Lab next door who I am sure can look after himself!)

So if you know raccoons, would you feed them in this situation? If so,
when and where would you leave the food?


Not in an urban or suburban setting. If you lived in the country, I'd
say yes. They're simply too close to people, which isn't a good thing
for anything wild.

-L.

  #5  
Old June 28th 06, 08:18 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?

Kiran wrote:

OK, Ryan, Upscale, L - I get the idea...

I am soft by heart. As a child growing up in a small town in India I
used to leave some food on the roof for monkeys! Today I feed cats,
birds, squirrels, and sea gulls when I can walk to the water. I once
convinced my next-door neighbor who insisted on feeding her cat cheap
kibble, to let me feed her canned food once a day.

In this case, I was softened up after reading the following sory (very
touching to me):

http://parsifal.membrane.com/alex/higginsjournal1.html

(this is part 1 of 8, but you can skim through quite fast)

But I can see it probably was a nutty idea in my urban setting.

It is just that the baby coons looked and acted so much like the cats I
love. It broke my heart to see them desperately sniffing for food from
yard to yard, while all of us and my cat had not only eaten but left
food on the plate and I had just thrown it in the trash bag which I
closed tightly as well as the trash bin so they wouldn't know it was
there. Something seemed not right.

But I am small, the world is big, and even if it is not right I can't
always set everything right.

So I have chosen to feed microbes, whom I cannot trick or stop, instead
of baby raccoons, whom I can...

Thank you all and good night.
  #6  
Old June 28th 06, 08:26 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


Kiran wrote:
Kiran wrote:

OK, Ryan, Upscale, L - I get the idea...

I am soft by heart. As a child growing up in a small town in India I
used to leave some food on the roof for monkeys! Today I feed cats,
birds, squirrels, and sea gulls when I can walk to the water. I once
convinced my next-door neighbor who insisted on feeding her cat cheap
kibble, to let me feed her canned food once a day.

In this case, I was softened up after reading the following sory (very
touching to me):

http://parsifal.membrane.com/alex/higginsjournal1.html

(this is part 1 of 8, but you can skim through quite fast)

But I can see it probably was a nutty idea in my urban setting.

It is just that the baby coons looked and acted so much like the cats I
love. It broke my heart to see them desperately sniffing for food from
yard to yard, while all of us and my cat had not only eaten but left
food on the plate and I had just thrown it in the trash bag which I
closed tightly as well as the trash bin so they wouldn't know it was
there. Something seemed not right.

But I am small, the world is big, and even if it is not right I can't
always set everything right.

So I have chosen to feed microbes, whom I cannot trick or stop, instead
of baby raccoons, whom I can...

Thank you all and good night.


Dude, you are talking to the biggest heart and sap when it comes to
animals of any sort! I had a baby raccoon as a pet growing up - they
are the cutest animals on Earth, I swear! But feeding them in an urban
setting gets them used to human food and used to humans, which isn't
good. Best to leave it up to nature to supply them with their meals.
Good luck to you,
-L.

  #7  
Old June 28th 06, 11:11 AM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
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Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


"Kiran" wrote in message
...

So if you know raccoons, would you feed them in this situation? If so,
when and where would you leave the food?





In many municipalities it is illegal to feed raccoons- Miami-Dade has a
terrible problem with them. They turn into determined pests and are health
risks.



--
Toni
http://www.cearbhaill.com/rules.htm


  #8  
Old June 28th 06, 01:33 PM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
kraut
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Posts: 7
Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


I have a cat but this is not about her, it is about a group of raccoons
(one adult and five children). They have been spotted sniffing around
our and our neighbors' yards and porchces this summer, mostly late
nights.

General consensus on the street is to have no food or food smells that
will attract them, and I would certainly not want to leave a trash bag
out that for them to rip apart and make a mess.

However --- and having grown up in urban areas, I have no experience
with raccoons --- part of me says they too are living creatures, hungry
and looking for food, shouldn't I leave some out for them too? It
bothers my heart that I am throwing food away they could have eaten.


You most certainly SHOULD NOT feed raccoons or any other wild animal. They
will become dependent on you and end up starving to death, getting hit by
vehicles, or could spread rabies to neighborhood pets.



On one of the Animal Cops show on Animal Planet a while back there was
a segment about people that started feeding raccoons and before long
their property was over run with them. They finally had to get
someone to come in and trap them to remove them and relocate the ones
that were in good health to a more remote area so they could go back
to living life as raccoons should!!!

Anwser is: NO!!!!!!!!!!!


  #9  
Old June 28th 06, 03:25 PM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
22brix
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Posts: 506
Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?


"Kiran" wrote in message
...
I have a cat but this is not about her, it is about a group of raccoons
(one adult and five children). They have been spotted sniffing around
our and our neighbors' yards and porchces this summer, mostly late
nights.

General consensus on the street is to have no food or food smells that
will attract them, and I would certainly not want to leave a trash bag
out that for them to rip apart and make a mess.

However --- and having grown up in urban areas, I have no experience
with raccoons --- part of me says they too are living creatures, hungry
and looking for food, shouldn't I leave some out for them too? It
bothers my heart that I am throwing food away they could have eaten.

I do realize it is a pack of six, not one little cute pet. I also don't
want any potential harm to my kids, my cat, my neighbor kids and cats.
(There is a Black Lab next door who I am sure can look after himself!)

So if you know raccoons, would you feed them in this situation? If so,
when and where would you leave the food?


Kiran,
In addition to rabies, raccoons can also carry raccoon roundworms
(Baylisascaris procyonis). They pass the eggs in their feces and it has
been fatal in several children. It can damage the brain.
http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7...7261--,00.html

The raccoons are also a pain in the rear once they start knocking over your
garbage cans in the middle of the night!! I love 'em, but not when my 55 lb
dog is sitting on my chest in the middle of the night barking her head off
at them!

Bonnie


  #10  
Old June 28th 06, 03:42 PM posted to alt.cats,alt.pets.cats,rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Matthew
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Posts: 2,930
Default Would you leave food out for raccoons?

In Florida raccoons are the biggest carriers of the rabies virus we are
always have outbreak alerts


 




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