I pulled up to a customer's house yesterday morning and saw a little raccoon, not quite a baby but not quite adult, on the road. I planned to grab my shovel and toss the carcass in the woods. I turned around the truck in the cul-de-sac and took a better look and the poor thing was breathing. I checked it out, it wasn't bleeding so I was going to move it off the road but it growled at me and laid there, breathing laboriously. I gave it a little bit of my beef stick and talked to it for a short while. I figured with the lack of blood it may have been poisoned but wasn't sure. I let it lay there hoping that it would sneak off into the woods while I was mowing.

When I made a pass around the house and came back to it, the poor thing was convulsing and crying loudly. I grabbed it (with the shovel) and took him to the woods and put him out of his misery. I broke the wooden handle of my really old shovel in the process.

I've had to euthanize suffering animals before but this one affected me. I've never seen an animal shake and scream like that. I'm greatly saddened by it and sit here wondering what could have caused that much torture.

Hopefully it wasn’t rabid and you luckily didn’t get bitten

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Originally posted by PASig:
Hopefully it wasn’t rabid and you luckily didn’t get bitten

Yeah, I kept my hands away from it, only touching it with my shovel (edited post above). It didn't seem to have the strength to lift its head enough to bite.

Raccoons are also susceptible to canine distemper virus.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Raccoons are also susceptible to canine distemper virus.

Good point. I'm going to call the Game Warden and see if they want to investigate.

Thanks for helping the critter out. Sucks to see an animal suffer.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Raccoons are also susceptible to canine distemper virus.

Good point. I'm going to call the Game Warden and see if they want to investigate.

We get calls on them frequently at work. It's not uncommon. They lose their equilibrium and just sorta stagger around in circles. A 9mm round to the skull and shovel into the caller's trash can resolves the issue quickly and humanely. I doubt there's much the game warden can do about it.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Raccoons are also susceptible to canine distemper virus.

Good point. I'm going to call the Game Warden and see if they want to investigate.

We get calls on them frequently at work. It's not uncommon. They lose their equilibrium and just sorta stagger around in circles. A 9mm round to the skull and shovel into the caller's trash can resolves the issue quickly and humanely. I doubt there's much the game warden can do about it.

They said someone will collect it for testing. Unfortunately, I didn't think to call them yesterday and another animal could have already eaten it.

They can get stinking drunk on overripe windfall berries.

Decades ago, the park ranger in Everglades National Park pointed out a couple of 'em drunk on overripe seagrapes. Hilarity ensued.

https://i.imgur.com/D2nFv9z.mp4

Not fun seeing any animal suffer. I do not particularly like coons but. You probably did the right thing.

Do not have a pistol on you or in the rig while at work?

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Not fun seeing any animal suffer. I do not particularly like coons but. You probably did the right thing.

Do not have a pistol on you or in the rig while at work?

Sometimes but shooting in the townships is frowned upon.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:
Raccoons are also susceptible to canine distemper virus.

Good point. I'm going to call the Game Warden and see if they want to investigate.

We get calls on them frequently at work. It's not uncommon. They lose their equilibrium and just sorta stagger around in circles. A 9mm round to the skull and shovel into the caller's trash can resolves the issue quickly and humanely. I doubt there's much the game warden can do about it.

They said someone will collect it for testing. Unfortunately, I didn't think to call them yesterday and another animal could have already eaten it.

They don’t bother around here. We get these call frequently too.

I hear that around these parts several fellows make a week of trapping raccoons. At the end they get together and make a pile of the carcasses that will fill a pickup truck bed beeping full. They can do this every year and seemingly not make a dent in the population of these pests. Raccoons will kill chickens, scatter your garbage can, eat your garden and raid bird feeders. I’m sure they’re useful out in the forest but when they start raiding your backyard their days are numbered.

Thanks for the kindness to that animal.

We have a family of raccoons living next to us. They eat box elder bugs which are a huge nuisance, so we are happy to have raccoons. There are usually 4 or 5 babies every year, with 3 of them surviving at least through to the autumn. They've never gotten into our thrash or eaten any plants. The deer and moose do eat the landscaping, but harvesting large game in town would be frowned upon!

We get a lot of laughs watching the raccoon antics on the trail cam.

Yes to the distemper in some areas, recently parts of MI. I’m not out for wonton harm to animals, but most areas are overrun with raccoons.

I'm sorry you had to do that, brother. You showed compassion and mercy to one of God's suffering creatures. That isn't always a blessing for us.