Ethical dellima and we are perplexed about killing raccoons

[Adenium]

Yes, bat populations have experienced precipitous declines due to a fungal infection.

 

[CariLynn]

I too have a farm that backs up to the woods and I am always mindful what comes through...at night we have "Thumper", a little cotton tail who comes each evening at dusk to enjoy the green clover in my front yard. We have black bears, foxes, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, possums, deer, etc. I have always tried to be mindful and live and let live until two weeks ago.

How would you feel, becoming very excited when your husband says to go ahead and pick out 9 three day old Amerauana baby chicks, you bring them home, nurture them, give them names, teach them what is great treats, they sit on your hand, your lap, let you cuddle with them, you raise them till they are of age to go outside then begin the transition from the giant dog crate to the new coop inside the smaller enclosure that is across from the big chickens coop, they follow you around, talk to you, come running when you call, and one morning you come out and find one of them missing? You inspect the small enclosure, find feathers all over the place, note that there had been a scuffle, the other pullets scared to death to come out or near you, all piled up at the back of their coop? You keep looking, find blood drops on the brace poles of the big yard and go out and look, you find her in the clearing torn apart? A leg here, her little body ripped wide open, her entrails hanging out, feathers plucked and scattered in the wind, another leg ripped off? Then it happens AGAIN the next morning and that night, the 6 remaining pullets are so afraid to go back into their coop they all take their chances with the adult hens and you find two of the 6 pullets cuddled up and under your roo's wings?

I have fortified my coop as much as I possibly can without breaking the bank. Did I catch the coon that we think did this? Absolutely, and we caught its mate and they were killed with one quick shot to the head. I REFUSE to allow the wild life to come threaten my chickens that have come to depend on me for their health and well being. I also have 3 neighbors who take "pity" on the poor wildlife and feed every species around!! They are on notice, it threatens my animals it won't do it a 2nd time, and the reason they are not so afraid of humans is because of them and their tree hugging granola eating bleeding heat. It not only hurts me but my animals as well.

If your going to kill a wild animal, do so quickly and efficiently. Drowning takes minutes and that is a cruel way to go. If you can't properly kill an animal you trap and perceive as a threat, then don't trap it if you can't do the right thing.

 

[chikky]

My coon story is this- I live in 16 acres of forest. After a couple of bad experiences, we fortified the duck pen and haven't had any problems since. I have a dog kennel with hardware cloth over it down into the dirt (bent out about 6 inches) and chicken wire doubled on top. There is no hole larger than 1/2" anywhere. (We should buy stock in the ty-wrap company). We also custom made the doors because coons can squeeze in the rounded part of the door and get in. The doors are now rectangle - no rounded corners.

I've read a couple of places that coons are somewhat territorial. Once the coons try to get in and can't, they quit trying. If you remove the coons, new coons come and the process starts all over again. I do believe that- coons will walk along the pen, but barely try to get in anymore.

At my mom's, we ran electric fence wire around her chicken yard fence, about 6" down from the top. The top is not enclosed. I bought a solar fence charger and a device that lights a light if the fence is shorted (so she'll know if the fence isn't working). Since we did that, there have been no coon incidences with her chickens & ducks. She does trap/shoot predators at her house, but she's always trapping because new ones come to fill the void. (But no deaths of poultry with the elec. fence).

I've considered running a string of it around the bottom of my setup just because I'm always paranoid that I've missed a spot of fencing. Coons can't jump, so a string around the bottom about a foot up (pretend you're a coon that can't jump...you'd stretch and climb) and a string around the top - would do it.

Now, if I could keep the deer from eating all of my beautiful flowers......

 

[Koipondduck]

Thanks for your reply and you are right. It is just that "some" of us learn in a hardway.
One example is my friend and my neighbor.

I have a question. I just added the addtion to the side for my mandarines and pin tails to hang out..
Since coons are so dangerous, do you think they can bust through this platic roof portrayed in the picture?

Also, I used hardware cloth all around but in the new addtion, I did not put hardware cloth under the plywood.. do you think that is a problem?



Duck house is infront of this Lotus and lily blooming Koi pond.

 

[Koipondduck]

Thanks for this reply, I will pass it along to my friend.

 

[Koipondduck]

You are right.

 

[Koipondduck]

We also do not own a gun

 

[Koipondduck]

Fair explanation and I will make a decision. Thanks for your heart warming and moral reply.

 

[Koipondduck]

Thank you, this is a very good scientific explanation. Round worm? wow. I did not knwo ths.

I will pass it along to my friend.

 

[Koipondduck]

that is why we did not do either and released it.