What one fears~one destroys

One week ago, Sunday, it was 10 p.m.-ish and we returned home from a little jaunt. I saw the movement in our backyard first. I knew immediately that it was a raccoon family. One, two, three-oh three is Mommy-four. Four. Uh, no wait, five. Holy gray stripes at night! Um, nope, uh, one more. A half dozen. Six raccoons have taken up residence in our backyard.

Number One Daughter and Little Big Boy were fascinated by the follow the leader parade that took place before our headlights. And this supplies answers to many questions that we have been pondering all summer.

Number One Daughter has seen "eyes in a gray face in the sticks." 'Look Mommy! Look!!' Well we thought it was a stray cat. Bessie has been attacking the brush pile since late spring and barking up a storm...cats; it has to be cats, but now we know better. We have raccoons.

I am a lover of children, nature and wildlife and animals in general. These are my passions. (Sorry G-you know that you are in the top five, though;) I am enraged when communities discuss the "encroachment of wildlife" in their towns and backyards. The discussion begins and then local governments decide that it is time to take action to "purge the intruders" from their midst.

Listen, WE encroached on them. We have taken their habitat away. What do people expect? That interstate was once prime woodland or your home is located on what was once a deer's bed. You get my point. I am very partial to us finding a way to cohabitate with animals. It is not only the native american blood that courses through my veins; it is that I have lived with wildlife and it can be done without risk as long as you follow the rules.

Rules like-don't try to domesticate wildlife. Don't try to approach or pet wildlife. It really is that simple. Just give them their three-foot circle and they will give you yours: if they are healthy they will stay out of your way. It boils down to respect for one another.

Raccoons are interesting creatures. They are beggars or rather they learn to beg. They know that they are cute and that you will fall in love with them. Mommy raccoons know that you will part with loaves of bread and piles of popcorn if she brings her little ones to call on you. After all, you are a simpleton. You are human. "Hi, Human. Gather bread, Human. Feed my kits. Good Human; good Human."

Let's bust the biggest raccoon myth right here and now: Raccoons do NOT wash their food. I know what you are thinking; you're ready to click right out of here. Yet, I assure you that I am telling the truth. It is cute and it looks like they are washing their food; I agree, it really does look that way. In actuality, raccoons do not have saliva; thus, they wet their food to make it easier to eat. That makes it all the more entertaining to me.

Well we have our six friends and I am sad. I do not want to remove them or kick them to the curb. However, I have to take care of Number One Daughter and Little Big Boy. If one of the raccoons becomes rabid, well the possibilities are not pretty.

Lois Lane had a rabid raccoon visitor recently and that is what made me realize that I will have to do something. She explained that the raccoon family would leave of their own free will if I place a radio near their nest or den or whatever their home is called, they will leave. The radio has to be turned up very loudly and tuned to talk radio. Interesting. Who leaves first: the neighbors or the raccoon family? (Can I tell you who I would prefer left first?)

There are many feeling running through my mind. I adore raccoons and have seen many and have resided in forests with a few. They are cute. They are not and do not make good pets. I know what must be done, but I don't want to do it. I will call the DNR and ask them to come and trap the family and relocate them, but I keep putting it off. I still have that nagging feeling that we should be tolerant. We are in their neck of the woods. (Actually, we are three blocks from a big lake-a great lake even, but we are also located in a city. They must have taken a wrong turn at the turnip truck)

Sharp shooters are shooting deer in cities and towns in my state because they get into backyards and walk down city streets. People hit deer on highways and roadways all of the time. It is possible to see them before they get into your line of sight, but you have to be looking for and watching out for them. You can see them on the shoulders or in the tall grass or next to the trees in woods or forests.

My quandry is this: I made a life protecting wildlife and nature-natural resources. I do not want to move them. Everything in me tells me to let them be. We took away their food sources, their homes, their habitat. I do not know what to do, but I know what the Native American blood in me says:

If you talk to the animals they will talk with you and you will know each other.

If you do not talk to them you will not know them,

and what you do not know you will fear.

What one fears one destroys.
~Chief Dan George