Chapter Seven
Two raccoons came through the ceiling, growling and snarling when they were not meowing. The mama stood in the ceiling growling at me. The police could not get here fast enough to suit me as I took a narrow hoe and beat at them as they fell in the room within a foot of me. One retreated to the bathroom where I closed it in. The other ran back and forth behind the sofa and a bookcase as they tried to catch it. Animal control does not come out at night--the rule around here. They obviously made an exception here tonight.
The hens are covered inside the back door in their hamster cage. At one point an officer started to leave the house. He said the mama, at least 20 lbs, was coming to the door, about a foot from the open side door. She was coming for her babies, meowing in here, the last place she saw them.
Of course, she was coming to protect the babies. Also, she could smell chicken, I am sure. Now, terrified, I will stay up the rest of the night.
How it all started--I was getting ready to log off the computer about 12:50. I heard a herd of raccoons running above the ceiling, between floors of house and over the ceiling under the roof in the one-story part where I am sitting. All of a sudden one of the babies crashed through the plastic in the ceiling that is covering the hole until a guy comes to fix it. (Remember, they dug a hole in here a few days ago?)
Go back in my blogs to find it here where they killed a hen. And, here is an update. Okay, it continues with a raccoon attack. Then, raccons invade my home. Then, destruction ensues. This is NOT supposed to be a chicken blog!
By 1:05, all Hell had broken loose here as there were three cops trying to catch the two babies as they watched the mama growl from the ceiling. These guys jumped when the raccoons headed their way.
The baby landed in the waste basket and I slapped my computer and the box it sits on in my lap over the wastebasket. The mama was growling just above my head and the wastebasket. So, I decided to take my computer and in my fright the raccoon....
Heavens help me! The mama is back and trying to get in. Okay, she was at the back door. Then, a few moments later she was in the ceiling. I am armed with a flashlight, a hoe with a small head, and the reacher/grabber. No, I will not be trying to catch her.
to continue...in my fright the raccoon escaped as I barely lifted the box when I was getting the laptop off the box and waste basket. I was going to take the baby and dump it in the live trap outside....or something.
It ran under the couch as I chopped it hard several times with the hoe.
THEN, the mama came back growling at me and another baby fell through. The mama snarled as I beat the baby with the hoe and shoved it into the bathroom and closed the door!
Now, I can hear it at the hole it broke through my bedroom ceiling. Okay, now it is back over my head! She wants her babies!
I want her.
The EMTs came because I was hyperventilating, about to faint, shaking uncontrollably, and could barely talk. Me, the brave one. I am brave, but there comes a point where I am easily terrorized.
The raccoon approached us all as we stood outdoors with the babies in a live trap. They caught the babies with the grabber/reacher around their necks and turned the trap up and dropped them down in it.
The guys were all getting a little jumpy or wary because of her actions.
They accidentally dropped the one in the bathroom. It was right where I told them it would be--in the corner, under the tub, behind a clawfoot. Then, they dropped it in the tub. So, now there is a big black mess in the tub where the raccoon feet were scurrying around, trying to run and jump out. It is okay. No problem.
I wish the EMTs had taken my pulse. My neck is throbbing with my pulse and my head is pounding with each heart beat, also.
It is time to just abandon this place, put my chickens in the car and drive far, far away!
I would like to find the damned woman who feeds raccoons in this neighborhood!
I am going to be up until daybreak out of self-defense (and fright and a pounding heart), so if you have insomnia, write me a comment and help me keep the watchout until dawn.
Ooooh, the raccoon is prowling and growling indoors and out!
People have told me stories about raccoon tearing off the siding of houses and causing all sorts of destruction but it's been totally anecdotal. To hear this first hand I realize how lucky I am that our local raccoon has not move in!
ReplyDeleteMolly, if you have a dog or cat, both are deterrents. It's too far gone for that around here. I think coyote urine IN my ceiling is the solution until I trap mama. No, I don't care what my house smells like. Besides, I am finding baby raccoon scat all over where they released it as they ran or were hit by me or captured.
ReplyDeleteTonight, my three hens will sleep in their hamster cage in the tub in a locked bathroom. Remember, these are just birds in a cage.
A neighbor feeds them cat food. If you feed them, do it far away from your neighborhood...lol.