On Monday, August 18, 2014 1:55:34 PM UTC-7, Moe DeLoughan wrote:
On 8/13/2014 11:59 AM, Higgs Boson wrote:

Big SOB has been terrorizing household intermittently for ages.

Comes in through cat door; scarfs up cat food; messes his water

dish. We blocked up cat door; cat has to use window giving on dark

yard; have it open minimum, but anxious-making.



Replace your pet door with a more secure model.

There are pet doors that have sensors built into them that detect a

matching sensor you attach to the pet's collar, or the microchip

embedded in your cat. That way, the door opens for the pet, but not

for any other animal.

Here's one to consider:

http://www.amazon.com/SureFlap-Micro...=1408395218&sr



Point is: Why are RACCOONS -- biggest pest around -- "protected"

!!!? I asked Animal Shelter for help -- send someone to trap him,

or lend me a cage. They said haven't done this for years. Gave me

info about "protected" status. I'M THE ONE WHO NEEDS PROTECTION!



What they meant is that racoons are game animals. And as such, they

are protected by game laws, which you have to abide by in order to

legally deal with them.



Look up the game laws for your state, or phone your state department

of natural resources. Most states have clauses in their game laws that

permit homeowners to legally eliminate a game animal that is posing a

nuisance to the homeowner. Usually, those laws require the homeowner

to give the DNR advance notice of their intent to do so. That's not

because the DNR is playing hardass; it's to protect the homeowner in

the event that somebody gets mad about the killing and reports the

homeowner to the DNR, who will then have to treat it as an unlawful

taking of a game animal.



So - talk to the right people to find out the right way to deal with

your problem. Then replace your cat door with something more secure,

or you will continue to have animal incursions.

I would love to use the sensor route, but thought it was only for collars. I long ago gave up trying to keep a collar on him. After about 3x buying collars and having tags engraved with his name & phone #, and having him "lose" them pretty quickly, I realized he is even more of a "free spirit" than I thought.

However, I am glad to learn that the sensor can be linked to his chip & will look into that.

On the matter of tolerating or eliminating raccoons: I can understand why some people tolerate, but everyone's situation is different. To keep him out, I have to change my whole life style! I would love to eliminate painlessly by purcha$ubg a trap and hoping it works to run him out of town. But it's iffy. OTOH, maybe it's a good investment in case there's another.

Dither, dither, dither...

HB