Comments on: Dear PoP

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:53:50 +0000

In Memphis, we had a raccoon mother move into our chimney over the winter to raise her ‘coon cubs. We could always tell when the mom went out to get food for her young by the sound of the mother ‘coon fighting with our neighbor’s irascible cat. Both survived the winter-long territorial feud a bit scratched up but no serious injuries. In the spring, mama and the adolescents moved out of our chimney. We had the chimney capped before the next breeding season.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:25:06 +0000

Perhaps the Supreme Court will allow a gun owner ship exception for the purpose of hunting racoons! Serioulsy, don’t leave any kind of food outside. If the racoons aren’t eating it, the rats probably are.

By: Otis Gal

Otis Gal — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:00:29 +0000

I didn’t have time to mention this morning that we had raccoons coming and going in the space between the ceiling and the roof when I lived in Baton Rouge. They were the loudest things and thanks to being in a private residence, animal control wouldn’t do a thing about them. Once, one of them peed up there and it dripped down my roommate’s bedroom wall. She was out of town and I never told her.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 18:14:47 +0000

if a raccoon is acting ‘drugged up’, drowsey, drunk looking… stay away!!! it is rabid!

By: Katie

Katie — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:12:14 +0000

A few years ago in Adams Morgan some kids found a raccoon that was moving slowly and acting weird. They tied it to a rope and were abusing it when an adult found them. Turned out the raccoon was rabid and all those dumb-ass kids had to get the full rabies shot series. I was sad for the raccoon but glad to hear they got some payback for being cruel to a helpless animal.

By: Flipflopirate

Flipflopirate — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:15:51 +0000

Nutmeg,
Apparently only young and adolecent opossums can hang from their tails… the tails are semi prehensile which allows them to use it as a 5th limb for climbing or grasping materials for nesting but arent strong enough to support the weight of a full grown opossum.

… and raccoons are just plain fly.

By: Parkwood Person

Parkwood Person — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:01:23 +0000

PooPoo— I would just about die if a raccoon sauntered into my bedroom unannounced. Those things are cute in photos, but when you’re not expecting one, and all of a sudden a little masked bandit is staring you in the face, they can be quite freaky.

On a side note, if anyone would like to borrow my old fat coonhound for a backyard hunting trip, just let me know. I’m sure she would appreciate the work

By: dk

dk — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:50:30 +0000

oye, that Ann Arbor story of the racoon and the squirrel is awful.
Though considering the PoP’s dealings with both, I don’t know if maybe inside he was happy to hear of a squirrel meeting such a gruesome end.

By: nutmeg

nutmeg — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:12:30 +0000

Opossums! I don’t know much about opossums other than they carry babies on their backs, can hang out upside down by the tail, and have sharp teeth. One visited us a month or two ago, so they are around. It was pretty stubborn about leaving. They don’t seem to be very bright, the one we had stuck its head between a bag and the wall to “hide”, except the entire back end was still exposed.

Raccoons are pretty mischievous. At my parents house they took the screens off and crawled through the window. After they’d taken their fill of whatever was in the pantry plus a cake left on the counter, my parents came home to find them in the living room trying to take the screens off those windows in an attempt to make their exit. Those windows were shut though and they couldn’t figure out why they couldn’t get the screens out. In another incident, they ripped up the linoleum in the bathroom and shoved it down the toilet… I’m not entirely clear on how exactly this happened.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:00:15 +0000

my roommate saw a possum in our front yard the other day… she said it was the ugliest thing ever… they can’t be that ugly, my uncle had a pet possum when he was young. city paper had an article about rabid raccoons not too long ago. they were talking about how hard it was to stop wild animals (especially raccoons) from getting rabies in the area