Oh my, Oh my!

[DrKMcK]

For about the last 2-3 months Yoda has been chasing what I thought was another cat out of the yard. He's fine with Yin and Yen. Yoda went completely nuts over this one though.
Now, I have had an opossum in the yard and it didn't like Yoda at all. I made sure he left it alone and it went away that night. I thought, maybe, this was another one.
Well, tonight I let Yoda out and he went totally ballistic! He went under the swing cover and all hell broke loose under there. He went running to the back of the yard, with me yelling at him to get back here. He finally came to me and I put him in the house. I grabbed a flashlight, ran back out and opened the zipper of the cover and looked...
I see this big grey and black, very fluffy tail and the rest of the animal was trying desperately to hide behind a cooler I keep behind the swing. I was just amazed...a raccoon...in Brooklyn, NY,..in my yard!!! Next it'll be a bear!!!
It crawled under the cover to the back of the swing and I went around and there he was, looking terrified. The cats didn't seem to mind him at all, and I have to wonder how long he's been living out there. I talked softly and went back in the house to let him go back to his home. I also took the cats food away. Mama cat gets fed in the morning and at night. The boys have always had food available and I think it's time to put the boys on Mama's schedule so there isn't food around for wildlife. Yoda could get hurt.
This all happened at 10:00 at night. Sheesh. Isn't my life exciting?

[velma]

I don't know much about raccoons but from bits I see on the internet, they seem to be a nuisance. Is it like our wildlife, where more and more are appearing in twins as their habitats are being built on?

[SiriusBlack]

A Racoon! That is exciting. All I get in my garden are squirrels.

[racinghamster]

He/she may have been attracted by the cat food DrK? I know a friend in Canada (Vancouver area) gets Racoons a lot! You guys have such cute wildlife although, I don`t think racoons get a good reputation as they spill bins and cause a bit of havoc sometimes! Wonder too if it`s a wildie or an escaped pet? Some weird people keep exotic species as pets in the states although I don`t suppose it would be micro chipped and you wouldn`t want to trap it to find out! That`s a rescue organisations job! My main concern would be keeping Yoda safe in case of fights or a bad bite. x

[velma]

I've just been reminded of a story I heard last year. A true story! An elderly cousin lives in Vancouver & one day walked into her living room, as she does every day. It's an L shaped room and as she rounded the corner there was a bear in her living room! He'd come in through her patio doors! She quietly left the room & went back later to find he'd left. She said that bears at the bottom of your garden isn't unusual but she'd never known one come into the house before. So be careful joking about bears DrK

[racinghamster]

The bears must scare the living daylight out of residents! However, they have been forced to venture into towns because they know there are easy pickings of food! It must be a battle of wills between the wildlife and the residents sometimes! x

[Pebbles82]

Does sound exciting! Ricky the Rakoon. Yoda sounds like a very good guard dog

[Shannonmcn]

I think raccoons are so cute, especially their little hands!!! I would love some backyard furry bandit friends! Though the look on my bf's aunts face when I said that tells me it's not a popular opinion over the water! She's from canada and her go-to story about raccoons is the time they ripped open the cushions of the outdoor couch on her deck, crawled in and slept there in the stuffing and refused to get out come the morning because they were so cosy!

[Nancy's Hamsters]

Please, please,please contact your Wildlife rescue DrKMcK. Raccoon may look cute and harmless but the whole state of New York has had an epidemic of Rabies in their entire Raccoon population. Just the fact you have found a Raccoon in a city dwelling is a red flag to me. Yes the cat food drew him in as well as the Opossum, but it is so out of character for a Raccoon to take up dwellings where no major amount of trees exist.

As for it being a pet it is very much illegal to keep Raccoon as pets in NY(Last I heard) and requires a license to even rehabilitate them. That said it is very very unlikely this Coon is a dumped pet. You need to call a wildlife sanctuary and have someone with knowledge and skills to place a trap and catch this Coon and the sooner the better as one of their odd diets if starving is Cats and Small dogs "shivers at that thought".

Please call for help on these wildlife visitors so I can rest assured you and your furry pet family will be safe.

[HarryHamster]

DrKMcK, do you know raccoon's know some cool ninja skills, at least you what is going in the backyard now.