"dgk" wrote in message

stuff snipped

If they had fur on that tail they'd be cute.

Until they open their mouths. Just like people, in a way! (-:

We also have raccoons though, and that's an entirely different matter.
Cute, smart, and destructive. I've heard that a lot of damage done by
raccoons is blamed on possums because you see the possum but not the
raccoon.

I left the sunroof to my car open a crack one day. It got thoroughly
"tossed" by possums who open then glovebox, ransacked it, pulled up the
floor mats and sprayed some sort of raccoon funk smell that lasted about 7
years. Everytime it was hot and humid, the raccoon stink would start up
again. There was a whole raccoon family living in the nearby storm drain.
I was out running early one morning and watch as mom and the kits spilled
out of the sewer in a single file line and began their rounds of the
neighborhood garbage cans.

I have a cat house in the front of my house for the use of a few
outdoor cats (we've had them all fixed), and a raccoon wandered into
one last week! I was just leaving for work (it was just getting light)
and it walked right in. It left when it got dark and hasn't come back.
I had banged on the side of the house (styrofoam) and generally made
it uncomfortable so it wouldn't come back and so far it hasn't. Small
one, probably just learning the area.

Someone in the Computer Home Automation group had built an electronic cat
door that used a video camera and a PC to examine the silhouette of the
animal trying to get into the "airlock" type double-doored entry. He posted
the photos on his website of animals other than cats that had tried to
enter. You could see the very unique nose of a raccoon trying to get in
through the cat door. There were also birds, the snout of a vary large dog
and some other oddities in the photo. I believe he abandoned that method
and went to a magnetic collar because while it blocked raccoons and other
animals, it allowed *any* cat into the house.

--
Bobby G.