The 'Coon Whisperer

So we had some recent visitors, first announced by lots of loud scratching and chewing noises at the top of the basement steps. Luckily, the door between the kitchen and basement is locked. I first discovered that it was a raccoon about a week ago when I opened the door and there he was. While I went to get a trash can and don some protective gear (rabies is not something I want), he made his way out of sight. We thought maybe he left on his own as it was quiet for two days. Then at 1:00am one night there was a battle in the basement beneath our bed. For those of you not privileged to have heard a raccoon fight, it sounds a lot like a cat fight, if the cats are old and have been chain smoking for most of their lives. Once things settled down I went to set the trap we borrowed from my dad, baited with a hot dog. The next day I blocked the entrance they'd been using (an unfenced depression in the dirt leading under the porch) with rocks. With no noise and no trap sprung for three days we thought maybe we lucked out and blocked the entrance while they were not home. And I think we did. Because when they showed up again last night I found they had rolled away some of the rocks and dug a new entrance. So when Annie called me at work to tell me we had two coons sleeping in the basement and one very unsprung trap, I was prepared to come home to either do battle or change the bait in the trap.

When I got home, they were still there, and it was on.


The first one was climbing the hewn rock wall in the corner of the basement when I trapped him in a small trash can. I simply put the can under him, the lid on top of him, sandwiched him into the can and carried him out. The other I pinned against the wall at the top of the stairs until he was all in the can. I slipped a lid between the wall and can and escorted him out, too.


So now we have a raccoon-free house, an improved line of defense (with extra chicken wire and much bigger rocks), one still very empty unsprung trap with a hot dog in it, and a couple of extra cans of sardines. Does anyone like sardines? Hopefully we won't be needing them!