Can not believe what happened tonight

[eggcochin_freak5]

i agree with the guy above me...they would have tried to kill each other.....coons are crazy, glad you got rid of them....

 

[WrenAli]

This is normal behavior for really hungry or bold coons.

I've had coons hiss at me and chase me away from cat food. I have also had them attack my dad's Jack Russel Terrier (though he probably asked for it) and well as coons, perfectly healthy non-rabid, bite my 100lb German Shepard.

They were probably just hungry babies who had left mom not to long ago.

Good that you disposed of them though. Bold coons are never fun to deal with.

 

[warcard]

Sorry you had to deal with this. Coons will go after anything smaller than them to eat. Your Chihuahuas probably looked like a tasty snack and if they were newly weaned from their mother, they could still look in good condition but be hungry enough to be very bold. Also why they might be out in the daylight, hunger knows no timeframe.

As far as rabies, possible, and better to be safe than sorry, but as an FYI it is no longer a 'common' disease in raccoons that live north of the Ohio river and I believe east of the Mississippi. The bigger problem in that area is distemper.

 

[spook]

Not all agressive animals have rabies, Racoons are aggressive, atleast here in Maine they are. Young coons actually play this way and other ways to become adults. Like your dogs and cats play, dogs growling and cats sidling towards you and hissing. Here in Maine anyways, if something is in the yard, even a larger dog, these guys are learning to make their area free from preditors, any dog is a preditor. Momma could have been around, up a tree or watching sleeping off the evening before and these guys went out on the town like a gang thugs.
With a dog urinating and what not around the place, it isn't a big deal, if you go out around you will find black tarry seedy scat where they marked their territory.
Animals are strange, your boxer could go out and kill a coon and never before done it, and a coon could wipe out your hen house, garden, plant pots and put hand prints on every window because you don't have anything that they fear. Now, you put a coon dog on a run and your never going to see the coons again until you get rid of the dog.
Call AC, probably nothing can be done, call the game and wildlife in your area and question the behavior and what to do. If they say nothing can be done, quietly and appreciatively say thank you and get a trap, shoot and burry the critters. End of fears. Like I wrote earlier, 2 or 3 immediate shots with a .22 at the base of the skull and walk away, wait a few hours before touching, making sure its dead and cooled off, move trap with gloves on, dig a DEEP hole so your own dogs will not dig it up and say no more.
Set another trap the next night and carry on. Tuna fish with liquid in the can with the cover off, close and secure the one end so it has to go into get the can of tuna (if its a 2 end trap, raise up or use a couple bails of hay or fence to prevent your poochies or skunk in the trap.

PS- if you get a skunk, it can still spray in the trap, also Lever 2000 will remove the skunk smell from your body, trust me...I know

 

[spook]

Quote:
I beg to differ, Maine , the county I live in, we are on a high allert for rabies, assuming all wild animals and non-vaccinated animals are carriers. We are also on a no transfer of live animals due to the rabies conditions. Get your pets vaccinated and you wont have to worry as much.
But Rabies is still a very common condition.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

I absolutely agree. Here in Ohio they fly small planes over heavy raccoon areas (mostly rural areas) and drop small food pellets with rabies vaccine to try to control it.

I think trapping and killing it is the safest, most effective way. If we have a problem, we call our local animal control. They'll set up the live traps, pick up the raccoons the next day and dispose of them.

 

[Silkie's Grandma]

I just want to say I agree completly with your decision, & how you handled the threat. - The rule of 3 S's (shoot-shovel & shut-up)