Racoon 1, Husband 0

[Rocket J Squrriel]

From X/Twitter: https://x.com/mmeJen/status/1843751677418962984

My poor husband. I have to share what happened to him yesterday. So we lost a chicken to a predator during the day over the weekend, we guessed it was a raccoon and we put out a trap. Yesterday we caught a young raccoon in the trap. We debated what to do with it, we decided to just let it go a few miles away instead of killing it. The thing was VICIOUS. So he took some bear spray with him in the car just in case he would need it when he let the raccoon go.

As he was driving to the release point, he heard a noise. He looked in his rear view mirror and the raccoon popped up his head right next to his from behind the drivers seat. The racoon had escaped the trap and was running loose frenetically around the car! So he sprays the raccoon *in a closed car* with the bear spray while driving.
The thing ran across the dashboard, over seats, over my husband - going nuts running all around the car (MY car), my husband keeps spraying it and managed to open the windows.

By this time he'd slowed down the car to a crawl. My husband couldn’t see or breathe because of the bear spray, the raccoon jumped out the window, my husband pulls over to the side of the road, gets out of the car, gasping for breath. I can only imagine what drivers behind him were thinking seeing the erratic driving and then watching a raccoon jump out the window!

After about a minute catching his breath by the side of the road, he has searing pain in both legs. He looks down, his legs are covered in fire ants. He’d been standing on an ant hill.

Anyhow, I have pepper spray all over my car now. EVERYWHERE. It smells like musky wild animal and pepper.

[David Newton]

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... 570742007/

This is an example that's even funnier: Raccoons 100: Idiot 0 in Washington state!

[jemhouston]

At least he didn't total the car.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nati ... 570742007/

This is an example that's even funnier: Raccoons 100: Idiot 0 in Washington state!

My parents had bunches of bird feeders in their front yard during the winter. They had to refill many of them every morning because the local deer cleaned them out at night. I was there one day when 20+ showed up in broad daylight. They scared the crap out of my mum one night when she glanced out the window and a face was staring back at her. Deer was asking 'Refill please?'

[David Newton]

The worst we tend to get in the UK are grey squirrels (yes the ones from the eastern US) eating at bird feeders. Attempts to make them "squirrel-proof" tend to abjectly fail.

[Bob Dedmon]

The worst we tend to get in the UK are grey squirrels (yes the ones from the eastern US) eating at bird feeders. Attempts to make them "squirrel-proof" tend to abjectly fail.

State side there is a company that makes squirrel proof feeders that work...the most entertaining one is to long for the squirrel to hang from to get to the food and the perch spins when something too heavy lands on it...half a kilo or so. It's great entertainment to watch a squirrel grab the perch and go for a ride. Of course the trick here is to hang it far enough away from railings to prevent animals from pulling the feeder in and catching it on the rail. I gave one to my mother, A racoon pulls to the deck rail and empty the feeder out.

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

A colony of Red squirrels endure in Formby Woods, NW UK, apparently against all the odds, because the area is surrounded by a belt of suburban housing.

Some 'Red' sanctuaries are protected by local 'Pine Martens', nimble sorta-weasels who demolish small rodents, but whose agility is matched by 'Reds', who have co-evolved. Greys, however, represent 'Big, Juicy Targets' for such.

Formby Woods, though lacking 'Pine Martens', are patrolled by domestic cats. Trained by failed pursuit of Reds, they found incoming Greys easy prey...

[Rocket J Squrriel]

The worst we tend to get in the UK are grey squirrels (yes the ones from the eastern US) eating at bird feeders. Attempts to make them "squirrel-proof" tend to abjectly fail.

State side there is a company that makes squirrel proof feeders that work...the most entertaining one is to long for the squirrel to hang from to get to the food and the perch spins when something too heavy lands on it...half a kilo or so. It's great entertainment to watch a squirrel grab the perch and go for a ride. Of course the trick here is to hang it far enough away from railings to prevent animals from pulling the feeder in and catching it on the rail. I gave one to my mother, A racoon pulls to the deck rail and empty the feeder out.

I think the squirrels look at those, rub their front paws together, and think 'A challenge!'.

Discover Channel eons ago had a couple of British documentaries where they showed obstacle course for the greys to try. Took a few tries but they always mastered them.

[David Newton]

Besides, it's not only squirrels that are big and use bird feeders: big birds do as well!

I've seen crows and pigeons using a hanging bird feeder successfully.

[Pdf27]

Some 'Red' sanctuaries are protected by local 'Pine Martens', nimble sorta-weasels who demolish small rodents, but whose agility is matched by 'Reds', who have co-evolved. Greys, however, represent 'Big, Juicy Targets' for such.

It's the weight - Red Squirrels are smaller (300g on average) so can take refuge on branches too thin for a Pine Marten to move along. Grey Squirrels being bigger and fatter (550g on average, much closer to a 1.3kg Pine Marten) get eaten.

[Bob Dedmon]

The worst we tend to get in the UK are grey squirrels (yes the ones from the eastern US) eating at bird feeders. Attempts to make them "squirrel-proof" tend to abjectly fail.

State side there is a company that makes squirrel proof feeders that work...the most entertaining one is to long for the squirrel to hang from to get to the food and the perch spins when something too heavy lands on it...half a kilo or so. It's great entertainment to watch a squirrel grab the perch and go for a ride. Of course the trick here is to hang it far enough away from railings to prevent animals from pulling the feeder in and catching it on the rail. I gave one to my mother, A racoon pulls to the deck rail and empty the feeder out.

I think the squirrels look at those, rub their front paws together, and think 'A challenge!'.

Discover Channel eons ago had a couple of British documentaries where they showed obstacle course for the greys to try. Took a few tries but they always mastered them.

They haven't won at my house in 3 years

[Calder]

For your viewing pleasure, I present the Squirrel Olympics.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

I liked the first one where the squirrel sticks its head through the hole.

[Bob Dedmon]

For your viewing pleasure, I present the Squirrel Olympics.

he's done those a couple times, they're fun to watch