Three Proud Coon Hunters

As you can see by the picture above, Izzy's first day at her new school wasn't the only excitement we had around here today. Yes, Joel (and the kids), managed to catch not one, but TWO raccoons in a live trap today. I couldn't believe it.

Warning: animal activists may not want to read this post.

It all started this morning (Joel was at work). I was sitting on the toilet when I heard a scratching at the window beside me. I lift up the curtain and there's a COON scratching at the screen trying to get into my house. I couldn't believe it. Obi was thrilled to stare at the coon trying to get in. I proceeded to ask the coon what on earth it was doing awake in bright daylight (7:30 by this time), then told it to go find some goodies in the trap (about 6 feet away). But, when I looked over to the trap I was shocked to see that it already contained a coon! So we've had TWO little rascals pooping on our roof. The one in the trap was freaking out trying to find a way out and the other was pacing the roof trying to free his (sibling? mate? coon buddy?).

A neighbour told Joel he had a gun and they could take it out to the fish and game to dispose of the one in the cage. Unfortunately, the guy didn't want to shoot the coon while it was in the cage, so Joel opened the door and out shot the coon. Our neighbour shot at it, but Joel's pretty sure he didn't hit it at all. Joel figures it was about 6 miles from here..so he may just be returning to the Rattenbury hotel. We shall see.

So Joel decides to reset the trap. I figure that's crazy, there's no way his buddy is going to put himself in the same place he saw his friend trapped in for hours that very morning. But...apparently raccoons aren't very smart. Actually, the coon was quite cautious as he eyed up the trap (containing the irresistable peanut-butter covered marshmallow treat inside). He seemed to think he could get in, snatch the marshmallow and exit. We sat in the office and literally watched him slowly inch his way into the trap. Suddenly the door closed. He just sat there...probably dumbfounded?? Obi was flipping out. We were all shocked that the silly coon would put himself in the same position as his buddy only hours after seeing him trying to escape the metal jail.

This time Joel wasn't taking any chances. A buddy of his suggested he take the coon for a little swim. All the kids know is that Daddy "got rid of the coon", that's all the details they needed to know. They didn't ask any more questions (thankfully). So, I guess tomorrow morning we'll find out if we've managed to rid our home of a couple of unwanted houseguests. Joel says we've got a lot of poop to clean up on our roof. Lovely.

Mel