Recently, a woman I volunteer alongside at our town blood donor clinic excitedly showed me some pix on her phone of 5 little raccoon kits that were playing on her deck and alongside her deck furniture....her husband had taken the photo in the last half hour...we gurgled over the pix...and then she shares that they were likely there b/c they (woman and her husband) had likely killed the mother raccoon...she further confided that they had killed 8 raccoons so far this year...I was a little puzzled so I asked...."WHY would you do that???"...her reply was that they were ruining the lawn hunting grubs....the couple live on 25 wooded acres...I replied that it was just grass...it grows back...I have the same issue....skunks and racoons at certain times of the year will dig up our lawn...but I live in a wooded setting...apples from our orchard aren't great for the lawn but they bring in the deer....I battle a raccoon over my bird feeders so I fill my feeders with just enough seed for the birds, squirrels and chipmunks for the day....sometimes if I'm feeling up to it, and the raccoon is raiding my feeder, I'll give it a little chase....although usually I let it have a little feed....everyone has to eat...
What really drove me over the edge was her casual remark that the babies were gone....I asked...she shared..."my husband killed them." He apparently either drowned or shot them....I just cannot believe....
And when I shared this with others around the community (keeping her anonymity of course)....I had mixed reactions....apparently these people are not a one off....others around me have the same view....kill the raccoons and the babies for wrecking GRASS...that shouldn't have been planted in the first place.....
I'm sure I'm not done ranting about this....
