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To Shoot or Not To Shoot

…That is the question and your opinion matters:

Our back screened in porch has been overtaken by Raccoons. We moved into a rental house from my aunt and inherited her cat, a pet door to the porch, and the big container of food that my aunt or her husband comes and fills up for that cat, however we attract other neighborhood cats, plus the raccoons. We have had around 4 raccoons overtake the porch, they range from larger adults, to smaller ‘pups,’ that whimper like little puppy dogs and would almost let you pet them if you tried.

Join the Conversation: Should I shoot the raccoons to prevent them from overtaking our porch? We have two little boys who play in the yard, and my fear is if the raccoon has rabies and bites the cat, the cat could bite the children and then we have a serious problem. We called the animal control department, but they have yet to bring a trap. What do you think? I am leaning towards protecting my children and sending the raccoons to their sandy graves, but of course I would put flowers on their graves.

Comments

  1. I had a similar problem just a few weeks ago. We live in a condo complex where there is one main door leading to 4 individual units. One of my neighbors left the main door open all night and when we left for work the next morning there was a HUGE stray cat perched o the mantle in the main foyer outside our unit. By the time I came home that night the cat was literally in front of our door. It looked sick and smelled terribly. I called the police…yep the police. They helped me into my unit, but because the cat looked sick, they wouldnt remove it and risk getting bitten. Instead the put in a report to animal control (who said they couldnt come out til the next day). I had somewhere to be that night and the cat was RIGHT in front of our door by this time. It was somewhat aggressive and would not move. I hated to do it, but I boiled some water…and let it cool down to a temp that I knew would scare the cat, but not harm it. Right when I was about to open the door and toss the water on the cat, someone from animal control showed up. Turns out that cat was terribly sick and had me, my husband, or child been bitten, we wouldve been at risk of death.
    I say aaaaalllll that to say….call animal control. If they dont come, do what you have to to protect your family.

  2. @ Kelli – I called them over a week ago and they were supposed to drop off a trap, they haven’t, so I will mark that as 1 for shooting the raccoons. By the way, I found out Raccoons live in trees, or at least that’s where they ran when they tore through the screening on the porch.

  3. um….I’m def. with you on doing what you have to do to protect your kids. I mean, no one wants to shoot anything (or at least MOST people don’t) but you have to do what you have to do when it comes to protecting your little ones. Blast away!!!…..lol

  4. Shoot ’em Nick, shoot ’em! The only thing I would really say is be careful how you handle it with the boys. Kids are funny about death, and death of animals at that age. But seriously get rid of them to keep you and your family safe.