Relocate or Retaliate?

[midget_farms]

I have a large problem with raccoons and occasionally a opossum. I've seen several posts here where people try to relocate.

In Illinois you must have a license to trap an animal. It must be in season or you need special permission from the county to catch the animal. You are then required to kill the animal or relocate it. You must however have the land owners permission or you could be giving them your headaches.

Given all the trouble it takes to legally trap & move a coon (most parks don't want them) I usually just eliminate them when given the chance.

What do you think. Given that there is no shortage of coons in the world, is it better to relocate or to retaliate?

 

[Emzyyy]

If you call i think animal control they have someone who will come out and trap it for you and release it because they show that on animal planet all the time on the animal cop show.

 

[Ang]

I don't know anyone that ever has a license to trap a coon. We trapped one earlier this summer and relocated it. Not legal but it was killing my chickens. We would have shot if if we owned a gun.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

What do you think. Given that there is no shortage of coons in the world, is it better to relocate or to retaliate?

As I take a LONGGGGGGGGG deep breath to prepare for the beating I am about to take. There is no shortage of humans in the world either. I believe in either trying to relocate or finding a way to live in harmony with the wildlife around you. There will NEVER be a time you eliminate all predators from your area. They will always come back. Rather than kill every living thing in sight, I beleive in a secure chickie haven and peaceful co-existence.

 

[dacjohns]

Have you seen this. It is Illinois specific and has a lot of information. It might have some of the answers to your questions.


http://web.extension.uiuc.edu/wildlife/

 

[midget_farms]

As I take a LONGGGGGGGGG deep breath to prepare for the beating I am about to take. There is no shortage of humans in the world either. I believe in either trying to relocate or finding a way to live in harmony with the wildlife around you. There will NEVER be a time you eliminate all predators from your area. They will always come back. Rather than kill every living thing in sight, I beleive in a secure chickie haven and peaceful co-existence. smile

I would never give a beating for an honest opinion. That is why I asked the question.

I have a very secure tall fence with an electric wire around the top and 2 feet of buried wire around the bottom. I close and lock the coop every night and generally believe in the live and let live theory. If you take out a major part of the ecosystem then things are out of balance. That said - I have completely replaced my chicken flock twice and any weekend away when I can't close the coop I lose them. The expense has changed my mind about raccoons. That & the 4 baby chicks I raised from an egg that were eaten.

I was just wondering what people out there do when they have this kind of problem.​

 

[seedcorn]

use the 3 S's.....shoot, shovel and shut up.

Relocating any predator-unless endangered-is always a bad idea. You cause the animal problems (it will have to fight it way into a habitat), another owner (now they have to deal w/problem YOU just dumped into their lap), nature problems as you've put the delicate balance out of whack.

So either put it down or live w/it. There is no good way of relocating just because you won't deal w/the problem.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I would never give a beating for an honest opinion. That is why I asked the question.

I have a very secure tall fence with an electric wire around the top and 2 feet of buried wire around the bottom. I close and lock the coop every night and generally believe in the live and let live theory. If you take out a major part of the ecosystem then things are out of balance. That said - I have completely replaced my chicken flock twice and any weekend away when I can't close the coop I lose them. The expense has changed my mind about raccoons. That & the 4 baby chicks I raised from an egg that were eaten.

I was just wondering what people out there do when they have this kind of problem.

Oh, I didn't necessarily mean by YOU...just there are some who would.

My mother has chickens and 8 (yes, 8) raccoons who come over every evening to eat.

They killed one chicken several months ago and she just made things more secure, added a baby monitor to the coop to listen for any trouble, and there have been no problems since.

Good luck whatever you decide.

 

[midget_farms]

Very cool site. I notice there are currently no known deterrents for raccoons.

 

[panner123]

Quote:
As I take a LONGGGGGGGGG deep breath to prepare for the beating I am about to take. There is no shortage of humans in the world either. I believe in either trying to relocate or finding a way to live in harmony with the wildlife around you. There will NEVER be a time you eliminate all predators from your area. They will always come back. Rather than kill every living thing in sight, I beleive in a secure chickie haven and peaceful co-existence.

I won't give you a beating, I will say I strongly disagree with you. In most places you must kill any predator caught. Please don't believe all you see on T V. When the state sends a trapper out, the animal is not relocated. If they can't find a land owner with a back hoe for the large predators, they are taken out into the national forest never to be seen again. Many people feel we should relocate a critter until someone relocates one in their backyard and it kills some of their pets or a a child.
Do you think the woman that was mauled last week in southern Ca. wants that bear relocated?
Now for the humans, I believe we could do without a large number of them too.