An urban fauna alert from parenting e-mail list Madrona Moms:
A word of warning – a very large raccoon just attacked my two small dogs (less than 20 lbs) after I let them out in the backyard to go to the bathroom.(at about midnight). They appear to be okay, but the raccoon actually grabbed one dog and they were rolling around in the yard fighting. We live on 29th between Spring an Marion, and the raccoons appear to be attracted by a neighboring plum tree.
Hopefully neighbors human, canine and procyonid can share the space.
Here’s another such story from Queen Anne (note posting date). A little Maltese had a back leg and her tail amputated as a result of a vicious raccoon.
http://www.queenanneview.com/2009/08/07/raccoon-attacks-quee
We have a raccoon with three younguns roaming our alley south of Judkins. This time of year pregnant raccoons and moms get aggressive. Is there a way to ship them out to a better life in, say, Fall City?
Obviously this is part of a viral marketing campaign for the filming of this movie in Montlake.
Besides Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks, “…the movie also includes ravenous raccoons gone berserk.”
Racoons have been roaming the CD (and other neighborhoods) forever. I have two indoor/outdoor cats, and one has had a few run-ins with the racoons. I have also had them in my basement (through the cat door heading for the cat food). I don’t think it is necessarily the plum tree attracting them. It could be anything– garbage, garbage can, cat/ dog food, vegetable garden, anything really. They are just around and we have to live with them (as annoying or scary to us animal owners as it is)…..
saw these guys working by the arborteum the other day. thought maybe that was the movie
There is an abandoned house on 29th between Marion and Spring with a large cedar tree in front. I’ve seen the racoons in the tree and climbing through the boarded up windows. They appear to be living in the house. Perhaps someone could call animal control to investigate the house.
A few years ago we had a cat mauled and killed by a Racoon — very ugly sight. Vet said that she’s never seen a pet look good after tangling w/ a racoon.
I never let the dog out after about 10 pm as the yard is often full of raccoons and it is safer to just take her out and walk her, even though it sure would be easy to just put her in the yard, but not safe!
I agree with your idea. Same in the morning. If my dog is acting like there is something in the backyard when it is dark – I open the door and make noise before I let her out because I think it is raccoons that get her going, not intruders. Even though she is a pit mix I think she she has a way better chance against a crew of felons than she does against a raccoon.
It’s true, the raccoons like plums…I’ve been finding discarded ones all over the lawn with little bite marks in them.
I have a big dog who’s getting older and, luckily, very cautious about going into the yard before taking a long sniff/listen. Still, once it was only a couple crows that pointed out the coon to me, sitting right in my yard on a LOW cherry-tree branch in broad daylight. I’ve also seen two big coons hanging out on branches that stretch over my neighbor’s yard, well before sunset, while their dog went nuts below. They didn’t seem to notice her agitation and left her outside for a long time, with those coons right overhead.
Even if you have a big dog, those claws can easily blind or injure them. So before you let your pet outside, take a minute to observe the area. And check on/pay attention to your pet when they’re outside. The raccoons have it hard enough around here; it’s our responsibility to exercise caution and avoidance.
nothing worse that those yappy little dogs, well maybe their owners…what are you people thinking…get a real dog!
My small shih tzu was mauled last night, the skin on his head was pulled back to the middle of his head as though he had been scalped. I believe that it was a racoon who did this terrible thing to my dog. I need answers. Has this happened to anyone else?
My dog used to have a tumor that grew like a balloon from his eyelash. He got into a fight with a coon under the hood of a truck. The coon cut off the tumor and it never came back. The tumor nor the coon.
Where do you live?
There are a lot of racoons in the area. Little dogs should not be allowed to go outside without supervision (i.e. a human with pepper spray), they are too easy an easy meal for racoons. That really is the only solution. Since racoon’s are territorial creatures if the offender were killed or trapped and removed another racoon would just move into the territory and cause similar problems.
But we can limit the problems by not encouraging a large racoon population. I see places near my home where people put cat food out for birds, but it is really the rats and coons that get it. By leaving pet food/bird food on sidewalks it increases the number of rats/coons that the neighborhood can support, which leads to encounters like these. Do not feed the wildlife!!! It does not do any favors to them or us!!!