I just had a raccoon raid my chicken run, killing my namesake hen, Piddowstix. It happened about 2:30 am when I awoke to screaming. It was a moonlit night, so I could see the trail without a flashlight until I got to their pen. I was unprepared for the carnage, and poor little Piddowstix, who had been through so much throughout her life lay in the corner of the pen shuddering her last.
Rather than let her death go for naught, I used her little, torn body as bait in a live trap to catch the culprit, leaving the trap at the sight of the kill.
The next morning I went down to find a raccoon in the trap with Piddowstix.
I will decline to say what I did with the animal except that I spared his life due to the fact that it was my fault and he was following his nature.
It was my fault because I had not built a secure house for them. (I had been forced to move the chicken pen due to neighbor complaints.)
I have many obligations which caused me to put off my responsibilities of building a secure pen and house. My beloved girl paid the ultimate price.
I would like to address the people who quote unsubstantiated statistics about rabies at the risk of alienating myself from some of my friends here at "Backyard Chickens".....
Check out the stats on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) where it shows a statistical analysis of human rabies from March 15, 1995 to August 31, 2011, showed only one (1) case of raccoon to human transmission of rabies. (which occurred March 13, 2003 in Virginia) It was documented as "unknown exposure" (which causes one to wonder if they actually knew that it WAS a raccoon)
Conversely, the CDC states that many times these identifications of the offender was by conjecture alone.
That being said, I must reinforce my henhouse and run, and I suggest anyone who is experiencing the same to do so also.
Instead of trying to wipe out all wildlife in the area, (I live on a river where wildlife flourish) or nursing a hatred for creatures who will take advantage of an easy meal due to human irresponsibility, build a suitable pen and house or hire someone to do it for you. Simply put; BE SMARTER THAN THE RACCOON! (or other predator) Aren't humans the "superior" species after all?