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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133726
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | 1
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Raccoons!!
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ron bailey
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 October 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 1107
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | 2
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Had a huge one scare the business out of me when exiting my garage one night. Had no idea they could get so big, or how creepy they look at night!
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16030
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 6:50pm | IP Logged | 3
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Had one on my deck in recent weeks, sleeping under the deck furniture. It was massive, but moved on peacefully when shooed and climbed a tall tree where, in the cradle of the branches, it fell fast asleep. Can't imagine having to deal with a 100!
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
Posts: 133726
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 7:01pm | IP Logged | 4
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A few decades back I had what I HOPE was a raccoon in one of the big trees in my back yard. It was night, and pitch black, so nothing could be seen. But the visitor was screeching like nobody’s business. It occurred to me all that noise might actually a neighborhood cat stuck in the tree, so I got a flashlight and strolled over nonchalantly to have a look. When I shone the light on the animal its eyes blazed like a couple of exploding suns. I practically teleported back into the house.
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Steven Queen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 February 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 950
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 7:28pm | IP Logged | 5
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My daughter thinks they are one of the creepiest creatures because of their almost-human hands.
They are constantly after our chicken(s).
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Peter Martin
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 March 2008
Location: Canada
Posts: 16030
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| Posted: 10 October 2024 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | 6
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Their hands are a little unnerving -- and they can do so much with them. A neighbour has had numerous raccoon problem and monitors his house with a camera -- one video showed a raccoon putting a soffit back into place once it had crawled up into the roof.
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Vinny Valenti
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8168
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| Posted: 11 October 2024 at 1:37am | IP Logged | 7
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"My daughter thinks they are one of the creepiest creatures because of their almost-human hands."
--
Yes! We had one on the back porch one night when we happened to leave a cat feeder out (and the lid was spring-locked on so no animal could actually get to the food inside). The little bastard actually took the feeder and I found that it was dragged deep under the porch. It was easily at least his own body weight, if not double.
2 years later, I can still see it from the slats of the porch. It's so deep in that the only way for us to get it out could be to pull out several wood panels. Needless to say, we just bought a new feeder, and never left it outside again.
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David Miller
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 3122
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| Posted: 11 October 2024 at 2:53am | IP Logged | 8
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Some friends of mine thought it was cute when a raccoon stole dog food off their porch, until they were besieged by an entire gaze of the beasts. One attacked me and I punted it a couple feet.
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Steven Queen
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 28 February 2020
Location: United States
Posts: 950
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| Posted: 11 October 2024 at 12:44pm | IP Logged | 9
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QUOTE:
One attacked me and I punted it a couple feet. |
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My other daughter caught one that has wormed its way into the hen coup and was mauling our last living chicken. I ran out with a shovel and all it wanted to be was "out". It never turn on me, but I was wondering what that might look like if it had. I guess I'm not surprised they are that bold.
We had the whole home invasion on video. It slipped in a small hole in the chain-link fence by the door-hinge, wander around innocently examining the chickens food and water, and then---almost as if a switch had been---looked up at the alarmed chicken as if to say "...and now I'm going to murder you!".
A chase ensued, with the hen desperately trying to undo centuries of evolution and remember how to fly, before if finally grabbed it by the neck. Fortunately my daughter and I arrived in the nick of time to chase it away and the old girl eventually recovered.
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Sergio Saavedra
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 August 2007
Location: Spain
Posts: 457
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| Posted: 11 October 2024 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | 10
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It's curious, this thing about cultural differences. In Spain, there are no raccoons; we only know them through films, cartoons, and little else. And I think I speak for most Spaniards when I say that we tend to have an image of raccoons as adorable little animals, ones we'd love to see in person, with their stuffed-toy appearance and those almost human-like hands. But not too long ago, I saw a video on YouTube where some women were screaming at the sight of a raccoon as if they'd seen a sewer rat, and it made me think that maybe in North America, people have a different perception. After all, thanks to cartoons, I always had the image of the hippopotamus as a friendly, easy-going guy. Very far from reality... 
Edited by Sergio Saavedra on 11 October 2024 at 10:59pm
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Matt Reed
Byrne Robotics Security
Robotmod
Joined: 16 April 2004
Posts: 36140
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| Posted: 12 October 2024 at 5:56am | IP Logged | 11
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The hippo is one of the most dangerous predators you’d ever want to meet!
RE: raccoons. I’m fascinated by them. Never scared. My biggest worry is that they can be rabid, so I worry about my dog when I walk him at 5 AM. Other than that, i find them fascinating creatures. I’ve lived in my house for over 15 years and only really started seeing them in the last couple of years. They largely stay away from human contact unless they’re on top of my back fence, in which case they torment my pup. Big, yes, far bigger than cute Disney portrayals, but never aggressive.
Skunks? That’s a different story. I had never seen a skunk, up close and live, until a couple of months ago when they sprayed my dog. Those fuckers are demon spawn.
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Andrew Hess
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 16 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 9846
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| Posted: 13 October 2024 at 9:18pm | IP Logged | 12
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According to another article she's been doing this for about 35 years..!
Whole generations have gotten used to her handouts!
And maybe it was "fine" up until a few weeks ago is that they all didn't show up at the same time before..?
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