It
is not a thing that I am proud of, but in an attempt to improve the
neighborhood, I unwittingly sent a young family packing. It all began one
summer night as I was walking my dogs, Buddy and Mike. Amid the growth of vines and shrubs
near the alleyway behind our house, I saw three pairs of eyes peering out as I
shone my flashlight to see what Buddy and Mike were growling at. From what I
could see, there appeared to be an adult tabby cat with two younger cats in the
shadows. Heads bobbed in curiosity but no move was made to come out of the
shadows, and I was eager to get my dogs back to the house before they started
tugging at their leashes.
Kelli - one of our rescues |
All
of that cat fixing is why, when I saw those three sets of eyes peering our from
the dark, I assumed that another cat had come into the neighborhood with her
young. On the heels of a successful campaign of fixing so many feral cats, I
only wanted to do what was best. After all, spaying and neutering our cats and
dogs is a major part of responsible pet ownership, and neutering feral cats
keeps us from becoming overrun with strays.
Havahart humane trap |
As
I drove around the block and stopped by the alley where I had set the trap, to
my surprise there was not a cat, but rather a raucous raccoon! I stopped and
approached the trap. The night before, I had covered the trap with some old
towels as we always do when trapping cats so that they can have some sense of
cover rather than being exposed to the open air. The poor raccoon had rolled
the trap onto its side and had shredded the towels, pulling
pieces through the bars of the cage.
Fortunately,
I was able to slowly open the trap and leave it so that the mother raccoon
could make her way out. When I returned home, I retrieved the trap and carried
it back to our house. In the backyard, I began pulling out the shredded towels
that had been woven into the cage wire by a frantic mother raccoon. As I slowly
extracted the urine soaked rags, I had a sense of the panic and fear that must
have gripped the trapped animal. I could not help feeling some of that panic myself.
I
never saw those three sets of eyes peering from the night in our neighborhood
again. I felt bad that the young raccoon who thought she had found a safe place
to raise her kits had found cause to move her young family elsewhere. I found myself wishing that I could have made up for my actions, even by setting out food and water for the
raccoon family, but they had their traveling shoes and were on to that next
destination. Maybe they found a safe spot where no suburban do-gooder would lie
in wait with a Havahart trap.*
Eastern Raccoons (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia) |
____________________
*Some will characterize the urban raccoon as a "nuisance animal" that must be gotten rid of, but I am one who loves any kind of encounter with wildlife. For a positive view of raccoons and how they can be your spiritual totem, check out this site: Symbolic Meaning of Raccoon.
*Some will characterize the urban raccoon as a "nuisance animal" that must be gotten rid of, but I am one who loves any kind of encounter with wildlife. For a positive view of raccoons and how they can be your spiritual totem, check out this site: Symbolic Meaning of Raccoon.
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