Night of the Living Raccoon

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Home Life |

View From the Cumberlands - A raccoon uprising?

I was going to comment on all the raccoons I’ve seen dead on the road the past few days. Since Friday, it seems that raccoons are sprawled across double yellow lines and half-in, half-out of roadside ditches everywhere. I don’t recall a time when I’ve seen as many dead coons on the road as in the past few days. Then there comes this story from Florida, about a pack of raccoons mauling a woman.

Oddly enough two weeks ago our cat Felix walked through the catflap with a big wound in his left thigh. We suspected a raccoon, based on a similar, previous wound and raccoons getting into our garbage cans. I’ve seen raccoons here in the daytime and caught them on the wildlife camera at night.

A week later we found a dead raccoon in the yard. What’s up with this crazy raccoon summer?

P.S. We took Felix to the vet. They advised letting the wound (originally a couple of inches across) heal on its own. That sounded crazy, but we kept applying Bactine and gave him the recommended hydrotherapy, washing the wound with warm water every night. After a week he’s almost healed and none the worse for wear.

Bonus! - Adorable Katie and Felix pic.

3 Comments to Night of the Living Raccoon

Bill
October 7, 2009

I ran over a raccoon a few months ago (couldn’t avoid it). My car didn’t clear it and $1,500 later, I was the sad owner of a brand new cooling system. I’m almost afraid to drive at night now

SayUncle » Under seige
October 8, 2009

[...] raccoons are all the rage: A pack mauls a woman. And blogger raccoon sightings here, here and [...]

guy
October 10, 2009

There seems to be a proliferation of animals of all kinds in my neck of the woods. We have families of raccoons, possums, and now skunks on our deck at night. There’s flocks of turkeys - I’ve seen up to 20 - patrolling the roads on the way to work. Even whole flocks of large cranes in the fields. This in addition to the normal herds of deer that keep you on your toes while driving.