Yep, they start out cute and then they fillet you. *shudder* One of the scariest moments I’ve had in years was about 2 – 3 years ago when we heard our elderly cat growling just outside the back door. I found him there surrounded by 7 raccoons… so I threw open the door, scooped the cat inside while shrieking at the raccoons and throwing whatever I could grab (I think I might have even thrown a pen at them). They just looked at me and never moved. Little bastards were going to kill my cat, and I’m halfway convinced they were thinking about me being next on the list.
Every time I hear about someone feeding raccoons in their backyard I just want to bang my head against the nearest wall. They are wild animals. They are strong, smart, work well in teams and really aren’t scared of much. They’re like coyotes that way (which we also have here, a pack of them living at the bottom of our ravine… sometimes they all go on a howl at night running down the street at 3 AM. They sound insane when they do that. There’s a reason they call it “barking mad”…
Oh dear, I seem to have gone all “Wild Kingdom” here. Perhaps I’ll stop now 🙂
Coyotes aren’t bad in the wild. For my first field school I worked in the southwest. We were camped on mesa/canyon rim and it was beautiful country. I walked all over the mesa at night for eight weeks by starlight. You could always hear the coyotes, but if you moved in their direction by accident, they would yip and then you would hear them call to each other as they relocated. Wild animals behave so much differently when they don’t have frequent contact with people.
Ahhh, but they look so cute! Just like the little lambs do…
Not nearly as tasty, I’m guessing (grin).
Well, now, I’m guessing you are right, but there are certainly people who eat ‘coon stew. : ) But probably only because they have no lamb…
Cute is as cute does.
Yep, they start out cute and then they fillet you. *shudder* One of the scariest moments I’ve had in years was about 2 – 3 years ago when we heard our elderly cat growling just outside the back door. I found him there surrounded by 7 raccoons… so I threw open the door, scooped the cat inside while shrieking at the raccoons and throwing whatever I could grab (I think I might have even thrown a pen at them). They just looked at me and never moved. Little bastards were going to kill my cat, and I’m halfway convinced they were thinking about me being next on the list.
Every time I hear about someone feeding raccoons in their backyard I just want to bang my head against the nearest wall. They are wild animals. They are strong, smart, work well in teams and really aren’t scared of much. They’re like coyotes that way (which we also have here, a pack of them living at the bottom of our ravine… sometimes they all go on a howl at night running down the street at 3 AM. They sound insane when they do that. There’s a reason they call it “barking mad”…
Oh dear, I seem to have gone all “Wild Kingdom” here. Perhaps I’ll stop now 🙂
Well, I’m just glad you and Zack made it out of that one unscathed (physically anyway). Wow. (Seriously)
And that’s just yet another good reason to eat lamb.
Bastards.
: )
wuss.
Coyotes aren’t bad in the wild. For my first field school I worked in the southwest. We were camped on mesa/canyon rim and it was beautiful country. I walked all over the mesa at night for eight weeks by starlight. You could always hear the coyotes, but if you moved in their direction by accident, they would yip and then you would hear them call to each other as they relocated. Wild animals behave so much differently when they don’t have frequent contact with people.