Feeling like a total idiot

[penelopebianchi]

I feel like a total idiot. After posting last night about successfulI outdoor brooding Iwoke up this morning to a massacre in my guinea keet brooder. Apparently 1\2 inch HWC is not small enough to keep out weasel hands. It's so small! There were two dead in the brooder with heads and limbs missing. Another was missing one leg and wing and was stuck in the HWC alive. I obviously put it out of its misery. It has been a whirlwind of emotion. The weasels must have stood on a plastic tote I have underneath storing wood chips. Then did their dirty work. I feel so guilty. BEWARE OF WEASELS. I got too comfy and they rocked my worlkd. I added plastic tiles to the bottom of the broode r and removed the tote. Hopefully that can keep them out. They killed my only pied keet and 2\3 lavender. Hard hard lesson.

Terrible....I have learned the hard way. Hardware cloth is the only way to go. It is on the floor and all the walls around openings in one of our coops, and we are in the process of removing small chain link (useless for rats) and replacing with hardware cloth in a big coop (20' by 20') You will only have to do it once. Half inch is fine, or quarter inch.

 

[3KillerBs]

I totally agree that live trapped raccoons (and released into wooded forested non-residential or farming property) is fine!

If you do not own the property then it is 100% unethical to transfer your problem predators to it.

 

[RShayne]

A trail cam can alert you to a problem before it becomes a problem.

I brood at my feed room between the chicks and ducks and a have a trail cam watching over it.

 

[Tre3hugger]

This attack happened through 1/2 HWC...read the post!

Terrible....I have learned the hard way. Hardware cloth is the only way to go. It is on the floor and all the walls around openings in one of our coops, and we are in the process of removing small chain link (useless for rats) and replacing with hardware cloth in a big coop (20' by 20') You will only have to do it once. Half inch is fine, or quarter inch.

 

[Tre3hugger]

If you do not own the property then it is 100% unethical to transfer your problem predators to it.

By saying something like this is 100% anything, immediately lessens your claim. This is a subjective, case by case matter. Law does not equal ethics, and blanket statements are ALMOST never true. I can see both sides of the argument and not saying that it is totally ok to relocate raccoons, but it is also not 100% unethical. That is an opinion, not a fact sir.

 

[Folly's place]

I agree that 'legal' and 'ethical' aren't always the same, but in this case, yes, both are congruent.
State laws about wildlife management, and specifically, raccoon, skunk, and maybe others, are there for good reasons.
Rabies and canine distemper are spread by raccoons, in addition to their specific intestinal roundworm, which is also very bad news.
Relocating critters into a new place, already inhabited by resident animals of the same species, does them no favors. The relocated animal will generally be driven out of the new place, and try to return to home territory. Either it's successful, or dies trying. And it loves chicken, and knows about live traps.
If your coop and run are truly predator proof, no trapping is necessary anyway!
Mary

 

[Tre3hugger]

I agree that 'legal' and 'ethical' aren't always the same, but in this case, yes, both are congruent.
State laws about wildlife management, and specifically, raccoon, skunk, and maybe others, are there for good reasons.
Rabies and canine distemper are spread by raccoons, in addition to their specific intestinal roundworm, which is also very bad news.
Relocating critters into a new place, already inhabited by resident animals of the same species, does them no favors. The relocated animal will generally be driven out of the new place, and try to return to home territory. Either it's successful, or dies trying. And it loves chicken, and knows about live traps.
If your coop and run are truly predator proof, no trapping is necessary anyway!
Mary

I hear and respect your opinion. At the end of the day people are going to do what they deem best in any given situation. I thought my 1/2 hwc was predator proof. Hard lesson learned.

 

[3KillerBs]

By saying something like this is 100% anything, immediately lessens your claim. This is a subjective, case by case matter. Law does not equal ethics, and blanket statements are ALMOST never true. I can see both sides of the argument and not saying that it is totally ok to relocate raccoons, but it is also not 100% unethical. That is an opinion, not a fact sir.

What gives anyone the right to, without permission, transfer a pest animal to either public property or another person's property?

It's exactly like dumping garbage there.

And I am a Ma'am, not a sir.

 

[Tre3hugger]

What gives anyone the right to, without permission, transfer a pest animal to either public property or another person's property?

It's exactly like dumping garbage there.

And I am a Ma'am, not a sir.

Excuse me maam I moved it to another location of its home forest. Raccoons do not care about property lines. If they have the crazy range everyone keeps talking about(some have said up to 20 miles) it could have went there on its own...
It's only a pest because we choose to go live deep in the woods. Perhaps we are the pests to them? So, I would say since I moved it farther away from people where it can be a "pest"and put it in a pristine example of its natural ecosystem, I gave myself that right. I can see a lot of examples where moving a raccoon can be bad, but I am afraid this just isn't one of them imo. If you assess the details of this specific situation,, as opposed to thinking this situation always has the same answer 100% of the time, I think you would be hard pressed to tell me why what I did was wrong or unethical. It is farther from people's residences, farther from my birds, and still in its home forest. No animals have been maimed because I botched a kill with the wrong tool, and I have suffered no bird losses since then. Tell me please, literally, what is the harm of my act?

P.S. Thank you for staying civil. All this being said, I will think twice before I relocate another raccoon. I appreciate your point of view, even if I don't agree with it on this one particular case.

 

[Ggg]

In Vermont it’s illegal to relocate raccoons because they carry rabies. My state game warden told me to shoot it.

Raccoons do not carry rabies. A raccoon can be a carrier but don’t miss lead anyone saying all raccoons carry rabies. And aside from that many animals can be a carrier