HELP!! Raccoon in my trap, should I release it or kill it???

[teach1rusl]

I'm a big softy when it comes to wildlife, at least with animals that have done no damage to me or mine. I'm not going to penalize something for what it MIGHT (or might not) EVENTUALLY do. But I do agree that if you've gone to the trouble of trapping it, you should humanely dispose of it rather than relocate it, unless you live in the middle of miles and miles and miles of forest, which most folks don't. ADG's method sounds pretty humane to me, or just wait and have DH shoot it in the head. Do provide shade for the critter until then...

 

[Sjisty]

If there is one raccoon, there will be more. It's not that another one will come in its place, it's already there! Dispatch this one, don't relocate it, and then re-set the trap to catch his brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc.

 

[Mervin]

I agree that you don't trap a predator just to release. That's just putting the problem on someone else's steps.

I'm not scolding, everybody needs to do what they're comfortable with, but I'd use gun too. There is a reason the CIA got a bunch flak for using water boarding (simulated drowning) as interrogation technique.

When we first got chickens, I thought about trapping/killing coons and other varmints. We used to have trouble with them when we had some semi-feral cats that were fed outside. It seemed to be never-ending. When we stopped feeding the cats outside and beefed up our trash cans, the raccoons stopped bothering us. When we got chickens, I decided not to fight it. A secure coop and an electric fence are much easier to maintain than constant vigilance.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree. Never release a trapped predator. It is usually illegal and at the best, you are releasing a trap-smart predator to cause other people problems.

I personally have no problem drowning a predator. A shotgun will blow a hole in your trap and likely ruin it. A rifle slug can easily riccochet and, unless you really know what you are doing, it is pretty easy to wound the animal instead of cleanly killing it. There is a lot more fur than body under there. At least drowing is pretty quick, very sure, and of minimum danger to you and others.

Depending on where you live, you may be able to call animal control and talk to them. In some areas they may take it off your hands. One of my neighbors is a taxidemist. He will take trapped animals from people. I don't know how legal that is, but you might look in the phone book under taxidermists for your area.

As far as other raccoons coming in, yes that is a probability. If you have one, you have more in your area. Raccoons are territiorial. It is not so much that they keep other raccoons out of their territory, but that they make regular rounds in a specific area. You may have caught one on the move looking for a territory, but it is very likely that the specific raccoon had your area in its regular territory. If you remove it, then your chicken coop is possibly not in the territory of any raccoon right now. Another one will eventually claim that area as its territory, but that might be tomorrow, next month, or next year. By removing this one, you will have made it safer for your chickens. I'd still leave the trap set for a few more days to see if there are more visiting you.

Good luck!

 

[ChurkLover]

I'm a little mixed on this one...I think being humane is good, but at the same time how much suffering does your chicken go thru while being mangled by the racoon? I've had birds taken by coons before and left mangled, limbless and it's not pretty, nor humane. However, we as humans do have a choice as to how to kill a coon, but the coon really only has one means of killing his food. We actually shoot into our traps as well and have not damaged one (yet). I wouldn't recommend relocating the animal. I can see where someone who has little or no experience with a gun might want another method for getting rid of the coon, and the trash can would get the job done. Maybe you have a friend who has a gun and would be willing to help you out with this if you don't want to do it yourself? Good luck!

 

[Mark & Nique]

Have you ever tried to release a LIVE raccoon from a trap?!

 

[TNRIRRoo]

Quote:
This.

 

[Mattemma]

I would kill it. I recently got a trap and caught an animal. It was hard to do but I felt it was necessary.I gave my mom the trap to catch her varmit problem,but she said she couldn't deal with it once caught and returned the trap.



I love wildlife but the population of squirrels,cottontails,deer,raccoon,groundhog,and possum is way out of control.My neighbors do not seem to mind since no one has gardens.I am trying to garden,start orchards,and raise poultry (on a .86 lot)so to me it is a big deal that there are dozens of these animals swarming my yard for food. I even had a groundhog CHEW THROUGH my chainlink fence to get into my yard.

 

[Cetawin]

Quote:
It may seem like torture from your persepective however I consider my birds....the coon will torture them before he kills them. Skunks get drowned by me ocassionally, I am not getting sprayed by one just to kill it nicely. I have little heart for predators of the chicken killing kind.


OP - dispath it or have DH kill it for you. Keep the trap set too.

 

[mommyofthree]

DH is going to shoot it, he's done it before when we had raccoons and possums getting into our cat food in the barn. If I were to release it I would do it here...I would definitely not relocate it. But if I leave it here even if it doesn't ever harm my chickens, it will continue to ruin my garden and I can't have that. We've put a lot of time and money into growing an organic garden this year and I am not about to let it get destroyed!!! I will probably keep setting the trap for awhile. This looks like a relatively young raccoon so there are probably more.