Happy Fursday, my fine pet loving friends!
Special greetings to all our International Missy Show supporters. Thanks Germany, Poland, Russia, India, Ireland, Portugal, Sweeden, United Kingdom, China, and Mexico! (these are just some of the countries I noticed who were reading us this week). Shout out to any other countries who've read us in the past, that I didn't name. We appreciate all your support. And of course, a big thank you to our listeners and readers at home here in the United States. We love you all!
Remember we've got three new episodes scheduled for the month of March. You can check out the show descriptions here:
www.blogtalkradio.com/shesatortie
It's Fursday--so you know what that means. It's time for another Featured Animal blog post. With that being said, this week's Featured Animal is somewhat misunderstood. Some people dislike them, some have a neutral stance, and I've even met someone who had this animal as a pet. Most of us may know these guys from rummaging through our garbage cans, (if you live in a rural area), or you may have only seen one on television.
Today's Featured Animal is the Raccoon. Why the raccoon, you ask? Because they are kind of cute, despite their reputation for sometimes being a nuisance. But more importantly because so many people are moving in on their habitats, it's important to know how to deal with a raccoon that may get a little too close.
I liked this article I found concerning raccoons in the Washington area. I figure this info would apply to most raccoons, (but don't quote me on that). Today's information is courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/raccoons.html
Be sure to read the section at the bottom for how to prevent human/raccoon conflict. It could save you or the animal from getting hurt.
The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a native mammal, measuring about 3 feet long, including its 12-inch, bushy, ringed tail. Because their hind legs are longer than the front legs, raccoons have a hunched appearance when they walk or run. Each of their front feet has five dexterous toes, allowing raccoons to grasp and manipulate food and other items. Raccoons prefer forest areas near a stream or water source, but have adapted to various environments throughout Washington. Raccoon populations can get quite large in urban areas, owing to hunting and trapping restrictions, few predators, and human-supplied food. Adult raccoons weigh 15 to 40 pounds, their weight being a result of genetics, age, available food, and habitat location. Males have weighed in at over 60 pounds. A raccoon in the wild will probably weigh less than the urbanized raccoon that has learned to live on handouts, pet food, and garbage-can leftovers.
As long as raccoons are kept out of human homes, not cornered, and not treated as pets, they are not dangerous.
Facts about Washington Raccoons
Preventing Conflicts A raccoon’s search for food may lead it to a vegetable garden, fish pond, garbage can, or chicken coop. Its search for a den site may lead it to an attic, chimney, or crawl space. The most effective way to prevent conflicts is to modify the habitat around your home so as not to attract raccoons. Recommendations on how to do this are given below:
Don’t feed raccoons.
Feeding raccoons may create undesirable situations for you, your children, neighbors, pets, and the raccoons themselves. Raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive when not fed as expected. Artificial feeding also tends to concentrate raccoons in a small area; overcrowding can spread diseases and parasites. Finally, these hungry visitors might approach a neighbor who doesn’t share your appreciation of the animals. The neighbor might choose to remove these raccoons, or have them removed.
Don’t give raccoons access to garbage.
Keep your garbage can lid on tight by securing it with rope, chain, bungee cords, or weights. Better yet, buy garbage cans with clamps or other mechanisms that hold lids on. To prevent tipping, secure side handles to metal or wooden stakes driven into the ground. Or keep your cans in tight-fitting bins, a shed, or a garage. Put garbage cans out for pickup in the morning, after raccoons have returned to their resting areas.
Feed dogs and cats indoors and keep them in at night.
If you must feed your pets outside, do so in late morning or at midday, and pick up food, water bowls, leftovers, and spilled food well before dark every day.
Keep pets indoors at night.
If cornered, raccoons may attack dogs and cats. Bite wounds from raccoons can result in fractures and disease transmission.
Prevent raccoons from entering pet doors.
Keep indoor pet food and any other food away from a pet door. Lock the pet door at night. If it is necessary to have it remain open, put an electronically activated opener on your pet’s collar. Note: Floodlights or motion detector lights placed above the pet door to scare raccoons are not long-term solutions.
Put food in secure compost containers and clean up barbecue areas.
Don’t put food of any kind in open compost piles; instead, use a securely covered compost structure or a commercially available raccoon-proof composter to prevent attracting raccoons and getting exposed to their droppings. A covered worm box is another alternative. If burying food scraps, cover them with at least 8 inches of soil and don’t leave any garbage above ground in the area—including the stinky shovel. Placing a wire mesh barrier that is held in place with a heavy object over the in-ground compost will prevent problems.
Clean barbecue grills and grease traps thoroughly following each use.
Eliminate access to denning sites.
Raccoons commonly use chimneys, attics, and spaces under houses, porches, and sheds as den sites. Close any potential entries with ¼-inch mesh hardware cloth, boards, or metal flashing. Make all connections flush and secure to keep mice, rats, and other mammals out. Make sure you don’t trap an animal inside when you seal off a potential entry (see Evicting Animals from Buildings). For information on securing chimneys, see "Raccoons in Dumpsters and Down Chimneys".
Okay. That was a lot of information. But I hope you guys learned a lot about raccoons. Especially if they're numerous in your area. Let's be safe for ourselves and our animal friends whom we share a planet with. Be sure to join me tomorrow for our "real" Friday Pet Trivia entry.
Until then,
This is your host J,
signing off..............................
Special greetings to all our International Missy Show supporters. Thanks Germany, Poland, Russia, India, Ireland, Portugal, Sweeden, United Kingdom, China, and Mexico! (these are just some of the countries I noticed who were reading us this week). Shout out to any other countries who've read us in the past, that I didn't name. We appreciate all your support. And of course, a big thank you to our listeners and readers at home here in the United States. We love you all!
Remember we've got three new episodes scheduled for the month of March. You can check out the show descriptions here:
www.blogtalkradio.com/shesatortie
It's Fursday--so you know what that means. It's time for another Featured Animal blog post. With that being said, this week's Featured Animal is somewhat misunderstood. Some people dislike them, some have a neutral stance, and I've even met someone who had this animal as a pet. Most of us may know these guys from rummaging through our garbage cans, (if you live in a rural area), or you may have only seen one on television.
Today's Featured Animal is the Raccoon. Why the raccoon, you ask? Because they are kind of cute, despite their reputation for sometimes being a nuisance. But more importantly because so many people are moving in on their habitats, it's important to know how to deal with a raccoon that may get a little too close.
I liked this article I found concerning raccoons in the Washington area. I figure this info would apply to most raccoons, (but don't quote me on that). Today's information is courtesy of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/raccoons.html
Be sure to read the section at the bottom for how to prevent human/raccoon conflict. It could save you or the animal from getting hurt.
The raccoon (Procyon lotor) is a native mammal, measuring about 3 feet long, including its 12-inch, bushy, ringed tail. Because their hind legs are longer than the front legs, raccoons have a hunched appearance when they walk or run. Each of their front feet has five dexterous toes, allowing raccoons to grasp and manipulate food and other items. Raccoons prefer forest areas near a stream or water source, but have adapted to various environments throughout Washington. Raccoon populations can get quite large in urban areas, owing to hunting and trapping restrictions, few predators, and human-supplied food. Adult raccoons weigh 15 to 40 pounds, their weight being a result of genetics, age, available food, and habitat location. Males have weighed in at over 60 pounds. A raccoon in the wild will probably weigh less than the urbanized raccoon that has learned to live on handouts, pet food, and garbage-can leftovers.
As long as raccoons are kept out of human homes, not cornered, and not treated as pets, they are not dangerous.
Facts about Washington Raccoons
Food and Feeding Habitats
Den Sites and Resting Sites
- Raccoons will eat almost anything, but are particularly fond of creatures found in water—clams, crayfish, frogs, fish, and snails.
- Raccoons also eat insects, slugs, dead animals, birds and bird eggs, as well as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Around humans, raccoons often eat garbage and pet food.
- Although not great hunters, raccoons can catch young gophers, squirrels, mice, and rats.
- Except during the breeding season and for females with young, raccoons are solitary. Individuals will eat together if a large amount of food is available in an area.
Reproduction and Home Range
- Dens are used for shelter and raising young. They include abandoned burrows dug by other mammals, areas in or under large rock piles and brush piles, hollow logs, and holes in trees.
- Den sites also include wood duck nest-boxes, attics, crawl spaces, chimneys, and abandoned vehicles.
- In urban areas, raccoons normally use den sites as daytime rest sites. In wooded areas, they often rest in trees.
- Raccoons generally move to different den or daytime rest site every few days and do not follow a predictable pattern. Only a female with young or an animal “holed up” during a cold spell will use the same den for any length of time. Several raccoons may den together during winter storms.
Mortality and Longevity
- Raccoons pair up only during the breeding season, and mating occurs as early as January to as late as June. The peak mating period is March to April.
- After a 65-day gestation period, two to three kits are born.
- The kits remain in the den until they are about seven weeks old, at which time they can walk, run, climb, and begin to occupy alternate dens.
- At eight to ten weeks of age, the young regularly accompany their mother outside the den and forage for them selves. By 12 weeks, the kits roam on their own for several nights before returning to their mother.
- The kits remain with their mother in her home range through winter, and in early spring seek out their own territories.
- The size of a raccoon’s home range as well as its nightly hunting area varies greatly depending on the habitat and food supply. Home range diameters of 1 mile are known to occur in urban areas.
- Raccoons die from encounters with vehicles, hunters, and trappers, and from disease, starvation, and predation.
- Young raccoons are the main victims of starvation, since they have very little fat reserves to draw from during food shortages in late winter and early spring.
- Raccoon predators include cougars, bobcats, coyotes, and domestic dogs. Large owls and eagles will prey on young raccoons.
- The average life span of a raccoon in the wild is 2 to 3 years; captive raccoons have lived 13.
| Raccoons —Too Close for Comfort |
| If a raccoon ever approaches too closely, make yourself appear larger: stand up if sitting, shout, and wave your arms. If necessary, throw stones or send the raccoon off with a dousing of water from a hose or bucket. If a raccoon continues to act aggressively or strangely (circling, staggering as if drunk or disoriented, or shows unnatural tameness) it may be sick or injured. In such a case, call a wildlife rehabilitator (see Wildlife Rehabilitators and Wildlife Rehabilitation) or your WDFW Regional Office. If aggressive raccoons are routinely seen in your area, prepare your children for a possible encounter. Explain the reasons why raccoons live there (habitat, food sources, species adaptability) and what they should do if one approaches them. By shouting a set phrase such as “Go away raccoon!” when they encounter one, instead of a general scream, children will inform nearby adults of the raccoon’s presence. Demonstrate and rehearse encounter behavior with the children. If a raccoon finds its way into your house, stay calm, close surrounding interior doors, leave the room, and let the animal find its way back out through the open door, window, or pet door. If necessary, gently use a broom to corral the raccoon outside. (Do not corner a raccoon, thereby forcing it to defend itself.) |
Don’t feed raccoons.
Feeding raccoons may create undesirable situations for you, your children, neighbors, pets, and the raccoons themselves. Raccoons that are fed by people often lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive when not fed as expected. Artificial feeding also tends to concentrate raccoons in a small area; overcrowding can spread diseases and parasites. Finally, these hungry visitors might approach a neighbor who doesn’t share your appreciation of the animals. The neighbor might choose to remove these raccoons, or have them removed.
Don’t give raccoons access to garbage.
Keep your garbage can lid on tight by securing it with rope, chain, bungee cords, or weights. Better yet, buy garbage cans with clamps or other mechanisms that hold lids on. To prevent tipping, secure side handles to metal or wooden stakes driven into the ground. Or keep your cans in tight-fitting bins, a shed, or a garage. Put garbage cans out for pickup in the morning, after raccoons have returned to their resting areas.
Feed dogs and cats indoors and keep them in at night.
If you must feed your pets outside, do so in late morning or at midday, and pick up food, water bowls, leftovers, and spilled food well before dark every day.
Keep pets indoors at night.
If cornered, raccoons may attack dogs and cats. Bite wounds from raccoons can result in fractures and disease transmission.
Prevent raccoons from entering pet doors.
Keep indoor pet food and any other food away from a pet door. Lock the pet door at night. If it is necessary to have it remain open, put an electronically activated opener on your pet’s collar. Note: Floodlights or motion detector lights placed above the pet door to scare raccoons are not long-term solutions.
Put food in secure compost containers and clean up barbecue areas.
Don’t put food of any kind in open compost piles; instead, use a securely covered compost structure or a commercially available raccoon-proof composter to prevent attracting raccoons and getting exposed to their droppings. A covered worm box is another alternative. If burying food scraps, cover them with at least 8 inches of soil and don’t leave any garbage above ground in the area—including the stinky shovel. Placing a wire mesh barrier that is held in place with a heavy object over the in-ground compost will prevent problems.
Clean barbecue grills and grease traps thoroughly following each use.
Eliminate access to denning sites.
Raccoons commonly use chimneys, attics, and spaces under houses, porches, and sheds as den sites. Close any potential entries with ¼-inch mesh hardware cloth, boards, or metal flashing. Make all connections flush and secure to keep mice, rats, and other mammals out. Make sure you don’t trap an animal inside when you seal off a potential entry (see Evicting Animals from Buildings). For information on securing chimneys, see "Raccoons in Dumpsters and Down Chimneys".
Okay. That was a lot of information. But I hope you guys learned a lot about raccoons. Especially if they're numerous in your area. Let's be safe for ourselves and our animal friends whom we share a planet with. Be sure to join me tomorrow for our "real" Friday Pet Trivia entry.
Until then,
This is your host J,
signing off..............................
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