Caught and Relocated a Raccoon

[Folly's place]

This raccoon is now trap wise, and will be a more serious danger to the next farm he visits. Not the neighborly thing to let loose out there!
Mary

 

[Molpet]

I would normally eliminate threats to my chickens with a shotgun. We have a serious rabies problem in Georgia but this one was acting normal. He is now down near the Flint River which is a very remote area.

They claim racoons travel 3 to 10 miles in a night. I assume that's not a straight line but if they want to return they will

 

[Captain13]

I doubt this raccoon will ever see another trap, another human or another chicken. He is living on the Flint River now. Watch the following video. If you see any neighbors I’ve put in danger, any cities where he might travel or any other danger I have released on my fellow Georgians, let me know. You will have a better chance of seeing an alligator on this river than a person unless you are on Lake Blackshear which is 40 miles south of here. My neighbors will bear no consequences of my actions.

 

[microchick]

We live in deep rural Missouri.

Last year we had a cat and a pet rabbit dumped on us. I was able to catch the rabbit. It was beautiful and I was able to rehome it but the cat killed at least one, maybe two of my free range roosters that was roosting in the hay loft before I was able to catch it. I was able to rehome it also.

2 of our 6 dogs were dumped on us when they were just puppies 7 weeks old. We never turn away a dog or kitten that shows up on our doorstep. But after losing 1-2 pet roosters to a full grown cat I doubt if I will be as 'understanding' of an adult one should I be able to catch it in my live trap in the future.

Seems like people drive by, say, oh look, these homes look Amish, Amish LOVE animals quick stop and leave it (whatever they don't want) here, it will have a good home.

Truth be told, nope, not all Amish are welcoming to stray animals and not all Amish treat their animals that well. Our other 4 dogs came as rescues from an Amish puppy mill.

I agree. The best way to deal with any 'coon, 'possum or any other wildlife that is preying on your chickens is a quick SSS shoot shovel and shut up. Don't make it somebody else's problem to deal with. We have enough challenges where we live that we don't need any more. Luckily, in Missouri any wild animal that is considered a threat to livestock can be shot on sight with the exception of birds of prey. As the conservation agent I talked to about a fox problem told me, don't try to catch it in a live trap. You can't out fox a fox.

I don't enjoy shooting any varmint that I catch that is a potential threat to my birds but it is something that if you live rural and you keep chickens or any other live stock that you have to learn to deal with.

 

[Love Donkeys]

We have a private war against Raccoons and Opossums. Opossums kill my birds and spread diseases. Raccoons may be the poster child for the animal rights people but they are extremely destructive. August 4, 2015 our 90'x50' livestock/equipment barn burned to the ground. Fire investors blamed the fire on damaged electrical wires caused by a large family of Raccoons, one had been electrocuted and the rest died in the fire.

 

[SamLockwood]

I doubt this raccoon will ever see another trap, another human or another chicken. He is living on the Flint River now. Watch the following video. If you see any neighbors I’ve put in danger, any cities where he might travel or any other danger I have released on my fellow Georgians, let me know. You will have a better chance of seeing an alligator on this river than a person unless you are on Lake Blackshear which is 40 miles south of here. My neighbors will bear no consequences of my actions.

There's already wildlife living in there. Which means the raccoon you released into there is in some other animals' territory. Best case is for the raccoon you released is it survives and displaces some other animal such as a fox, opossum, or other raccoon, which in turns displaces another animal, etc. until eventually one of those displaced critters wanders into somebody's back yard.

So yes, TECHNICALLY that raccoon you released doesn't become somebody else's problem, but some other predator does.

More likely, what happens is that that raccoon doesn't find a territory of its own and starves to death or gets eaten by something else. In which case you still killed it, only slowly, more painfully, and you wasted a hour or two of your time and some gas in killing it.

 

[SamLockwood]

I read that it’s better to not kill or remove any predators and beef up security instead (secure coop, run, LGDs…), because it’s better to have a predator in your area that has been frustrated or scared off and given up on getting to your livestock than a never ending parade of new predators (because the niche will be filled again) that will each challenge your defenses again and might be successful before you know they are even there… A The devil you know is better than the devil that you don’t kind of thing.

My experience has proven that the exact opposite of that is true, and I've been keeping poultry off and on since 1985.

First off, I have yet to see the hungry wild animal that gets "scared off" for more than 24 hours at a time. Nor do they get "frustrated" and just leave your flock alone unless there's some other, easier food source nearby. Maybe you get lucky and some idiot starts feeding them pet food in hope of having an exotic pet, then maybe the predator gets "frustrated" and leaves your flock alone. That sort of thing hasn't happened around my house in the 17+ years I've lived here.

The craziest example of persistence was this human-savvy raccoon that was not only trying to get at the chickens at night but it wast tearing up potted plants and the garden. The thing had a sixth sense for people with guns and I never could ambush it so I tried trapping. This was successful but I didn't want to dispatch it in the cage so I opened the door before I started shooting at it.

It turns out even when they're running in a straight line a raccoon moving full-speed is hard to hit. You'd think after that he'd have been scared away, but I trapped him again the next night. Again I tried to be sporting and he got away, although that time I got so close the dirt the bullet kicked up made him stagger. The third night I trapped him a third time and I was far less sporting. I guess he didn't read the same article you did.

Problem #2 with that thesis is that there is no such thing as "steady state" in nature. Animals grow old and die, they mate and have young, they get displaced by other animals, or run over by cars. Their normal prey moves away, or they eat it all.

Last fall a bobcat moved onto my property but as far as I could tell from the trail cameras it was only active at night and stayed on the west end of the property by the river. I figured since the birds were secure at night I had nothing to worry about. This situation held for about 4 months, then the chickens started disappearing. It got four before I got smart, including one it grabbed not 20 yards from me. Even after I put the flock on lockdown the bobcat would take wild birds that were on my property. It would lurk on the back porch, sizing up the coop at night (I found its droppings in the mornings).

I had a hell of a time stalking that 'cat, and was ultimately unsuccessful. The closest I got was I found its lair, but it disappeared a few days after that. Needless to say if a bobcat ever shows up on my land again I'm going to be far less "live and let live" with it.

Third, unless you're going to go with a commercial-grade metal building with a concrete slab floor there's no such thing as a "predator proof" coop. Anything made of wood can be gotten into by an animal with enough time. Plus, it's practically impossible to rodent-proof a coop: and given that even mice will eat eggs, rats can and do kill chickens, and rodent droppings in the feeders can make chickens sick I'd put rodents in the "predator" category as well.

Given that that I've had rats steal bait from a trap with another dead rat in it I don't think rats are easily scared off either.

I don't believe that livestock-keeping is not for the faint of heart. Either you get used to getting your hands dirty once in a while or you get used to losing birds to predators frequently.

 

[Captain13]

You can relocate raccoons here. You can’t relocate foxes. They (Dept of Natural Resources) only want an animal that has rabies symptoms or has attacked someone. Raccoons move in the evening and night. If one is out during the day, that is suspicious. If they are out during the day and walking slowly, head down and move toward a human or another animal, that’s an indication of rabies. I would normally not relocate, but this raccoon was acting perfectly normal before and after being caught. The area I released him in is a large swamp/forest area on the river. People don’t live there. When I opened the trap door, he scurried out and was gone. I was born and raised here and have hunted and fished on the river for years and have a pretty good understanding of typical animal behavior. The raccoon being on my farm is not unusual because I live between the Ocmulgee and Flint Rivers with multiple feeder creeks and streams all around. if I’m comfortable relocating, that’s what I do and I don’t relocate them to a place where others live. I take them to the river and let them go.

 

[countryladyNH]

'Acting normal' isn't how you determine illness! This critter might be incubating anything, and 'act sick' tomorrow. Trap and shoot, or don't trap.
Having a predator proof coop and small run, so your birds aren't at risk, at least at night, solves many problems without trapping.
Mary

Completely agree!

 

[ThatUserNameAlreadyTaken]

You can relocate raccoons here. You can’t relocate foxes. They (Dept of Natural Resources) only want an animal that has rabies symptoms or has attacked someone. Raccoons move in the evening and night. If one is out during the day, that is suspicious. If they are out during the day and walking slowly, head down and move toward a human or another animal, that’s an indication of rabies. I would normally not relocate, but this raccoon was acting perfectly normal before and after being caught. The area I released him in is a large swamp/forest area on the river. People don’t live there. When I opened the trap door, he scurried out and was gone. I was born and raised here and have hunted and fished on the river for years and have a pretty good understanding of typical animal behavior. The raccoon being on my farm is not unusual because I live between the Ocmulgee and Flint Rivers with multiple feeder creeks and streams all around. if I’m comfortable relocating, that’s what I do and I don’t relocate them to a place where others live. I take them to the river and let them go.

So, what you're attempting to state is that there are no occupied properties closer to that river than you do? If that is not the case, face it you are making your problem someone else's problem, without getting their permission to do so.