# My first TRR (Trap & Relocate Raccoon) -- It came back!!



## Jet Green

My husband and I been having some issues in recent weeks with a rather bold raccoon. Greg and Gladys, two of my former ferals, are living on a screened patio at the back of the house. One evening we heard Greg freaking out, and came to find him and the raccoon challenging each other through the screen! 8O We chased the raccoon away and started keeping a nervous eye/ear out at night.

As far as we knew, he didn't return...but Sunday morning we woke up to find muddy raccoon prints right up to the patio. We never heard a peep from Greg -- hopefully he was just sleeping soundly -- but with visions of him going crashing through the screen one of these nights, we decided to try to trap and move the raccoon.

Raccoons being clever creatures, we figured he would be too smart to actually fall into it, or that at best, it would take several nights of waiting. Ha! It took about five hours. At 3AM, breaking several local laws, we drove him to a large county park several miles from where we live, and let him go, hopefully to a better life than in our urban neighborhood.

I confess that I'm not sure what raccoons eat, so I don't know if the park will provide all the food he needs. But it borders a large suburban area, so whatever he's been living on in our neighborhood (probably garbage and pet food) should be available there too. In which case, we may have just sloughed off our problem on someone else's neighborhood.  But living next to a county park, they must be used to it. It's a more natural environment for Mr. Raccoon, and his relocation will help keep our cats safe, so I think it was the best option open to us.


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## Avalonia

Good for you, going out of your way to try to help it. There wasn't any wild animal rescues or Audubon Society in your area to help you figure out where to relocate Mr/Ms. Raccoon? There's not one in my small town either-it's frustrating sometimes since I have a tendency to 'find' creatures. Hope I don't find any wild animals any time soon!

Raccoons are such beautiful creatures, but boy, do they have tempers. When I lived in Astoria (Oregon), they used to come to one of the dorms every night and students would come and feed them. They would snatch the food with very, very long claws and give extremely dirty looks if it wasn't fast enough. Beautiful, like I said, but kind of scary. I wouldn't want one around my cats either.


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## Jeanie

They're beautiful and they're clever, but often carry rabies. I think you were wise, JG.


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## Jet Green

Thanks both for your comments. In terms of resources, we don't have anything like an Audubon Society in our area because we're pretty much out of natural land. (Go Florida developers! :?) What remains of wildlife is under the jurisdiction of Animal Control, whose motto seems to be, "If it's inconvenient, euthanize it." We thought at least this way, he'd* have a chance.

Plus I steer clear of Animal Control generally because, even without the raccoon, I'm always breaking several of their laws. Feral cats are legally classified as wild animals, so it's illegal for me to feed, trap, release, or otherwise do anything for them. HA!  (Jerks. :evil: )

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* We're assuming it's a male raccoon because there haven't been any babies.


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## Jet Green

As of 3:30 this morning, we are no longer raccoon-free!! :evil: An identically-sized lone raccoon popped up and began harassing Greg and Gladys. Either it found its way back, or a new one has moved into its ecological niche, or there was always more than one and we didn't know it. Either way, I'm not happy. 

I have no issues with raccoons in general. We've had at least the one living in the vicinity for several months. Every night I put food out on the other side of the house, to direct any critters and cats away from Greg and Gladys' porch, and everyone has coexisted peacefully. But now the raccoon(s) are getting right up in the cats' faces and causing Greg to flip out. 8O 

A detail I don't think I mentioned, is that right before we moved the first one, a neighbor told me that her dog had shown up with a mysterious bite on one leg. I know raccoons aren't supposed to be very aggressive, but if the dog cornered it, maybe it fought back? I don't think it has rabies -- it doesn't outright attack anyone when we chase it away, or drool or anything. And all our cats are least vaccinated. But I'm starting to feel like we're under siege.


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## Avalonia

I will freely admit I'm not an expert, so anyone who has more experience please feel free to step in, but from everything I have heard and experienced myself about raccoons, they actually are extremely aggressive. One of my family's favorite stories is about the friend who hit a raccoon accidentally one night, stopped the car to check on it, and found himself running for his life when said raccoon jumped up and went on the attack. He had a raccoon shaped dent on the side of his car to show for it, when the raccoon actually slammed into the door trying to get him. :lol: And in the dorm where I used to live, one of the regularly fed but wild raccoons climbed up the outer staircase of a dorm, got into the tv room, and went crazy inside it, tearing up the place and when a student tried to get in, the raccoon nearly got him too. Maybe these were just unusual raccoons, but I would not surprised at all to hear one attacked your neighbor's dog, and I think you are right to not want it around your cats. I would never advocate killing it, but...well, hmmm. I really wish I knew what to tell you if trapping it didn't work...let me surf the web for a while for resources and I'll get back to you.

EDIT: Ok, if you've already been checking the net you've probably seen this, but all I could really find for Orlando is this company. They do require payment. I do not know if they actually humanely relocate raccoons. It mentions humanely trapping them but not what happens after that. If you're really desperate, you might want to give them a call just to see what they would do with the raccoon were you to purchase their services. http://www.orlandorats.com/orlando-raccoon-control.htm

In the meantime, I can't read your post right now but did you say you were feeding the cats outside? If there is any way to feed them inside, please do so. If there is food outside, that's why the raccoons are coming around, and they'll never just eat the food that's left for them.


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## Jet Green

I appreciate your frankness, Avalonia. It confirms my worries. I do have to feed the cats outside; my situation is such that they have to live on a screened patio/porch. We are actually planning to enclose it with real walls as soon as we can afford it, but that will take awhile.

What I can do right away is change their nighttime feeding schedule. Up to now I've been laying down generous plates of food for them to graze on overnight, but that's got to stop. Starting last night, I'm now giving them their last helping earlier, putting down less of it, and (this is dumb but effective) making it Fancy Feast, so they'll gobble it up quickly and I can take the plates away immediately. I've also increased the amount of decoy food on the other side of the house. 

Even if this helps, I don't want the raccoons to continue proliferating. Hopefully I can find a humane relocation service. I'm going to make some calls and see what I can find out -- thank you for the referral, which seems like a good place to start.


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## Avalonia

That's right; when I read back I realized you had said your ferals live on the porch. I think feeding them and then cleaning up quickly is a good idea. Sounds like the raccoon thinks your porch is a source of food at the moment so once it gets over that impression maybe it will leave your cats alone.

Keep us updated-hope all goes well and you can find a resource to hopefully move the raccoon away.


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## Jeanie

In addition to feeding your cats only what they will eat promptly, I would trap and trap and move and move the racoons. In some areas that's illegal, and I don't believe in breaking the law. However, if you are not permitted to move them (farther than before..just in case), then the law should protect you! You are not vaccinated against rabies.


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## Mitts & Tess

I talked to a wild life rehab person about moving some racoons with the same problem your having. He said to move it atleast 10 miles away near a lake so it has a food and water source. It you dont relocate it far enough away they find their way back! They are clever animals.


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## Jet Green

Thanks all for your comments. I've been religiously taking in the porch cats' food at night, and leaving more food on the other side of the house, and there have been no other incidents so far. But I do still want to move the raccoons out of the neighborhood if possible.

I checked with Animal Control, and if we involve them in the process, they will euthanize the raccoons, period. Their rationale is that if a raccoon is a nuisance to me, it's going to be a nuisance to other people, and relocating it would just shift the problem somewhere else. I suppose they have a point, but as long as it's not actively attacking pets or people, I can't in good conscience just hand it over to die.  I like the county park idea better.

So it looks like we will be engaging in more TRR activities, even though it's quite illegal. Given the kill-happy nature of the local Animal Control, I don't have a problem with a little civil disobedience against them. :twisted: It's only a misdemeanor anyway. I'll observe that 10-mile rule this time -- thanks for the tip!


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## Mitts & Tess

Just heard a quote on Animal Planet of a wild life rehaber " the only animal that has no chance is the one who has the chance taken away." I agree with your _civil disobedience_. Sounds like your local animal control is behind the times with current thought on rehab. Let us know what happens. Best of luck.


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## Jeanie

Aren't they beautiful pests? Let us know what happens, Jet Green.


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