Yesterday morning, I woke up and thought my pond looked cloudy. Not only that, but it appeared to have many more water hyacinths than I remembered. I gazed out my kitchen window in disbelief, as I witnessed why the water looked so weird .. My potted waterlily had been uprooted, and was suspended upside down in the water. Not only that, but my abundance of water hyacinths was due to them having been ripped to shreds. With my jaw still wide open, I set my coffee on the counter, and walked outside ..
My pond filter box was open and the lid had been tossed to one side, the fountain head was somewhere under the murky water along with the pond light, and my pump was sitting on a rock.
I couldn't believe it.. It was one of those movie moments, when a person drops to his knees and yells, "Whhhyyyyy!" to the heavens.
I didn't have time to look for my koi, but I figured they would be ok until I got home. That afternoon, I drained the muddy pond. Bucket by bucket, I looked anxiously for my little buddies. Down to the last 2 gallons .. and no fish .. just one little goldfish who was pretty scratched up ..
That evening, I saw the raccoon return to the scene of the crime ... and to think we thought he was so cute in the past! I threw shoes at him, squirted him with the hose, and spanked him with my large fish net. He didn't care. In fact, I'm pretty sure he flipped me off. Ugh! The best I can hope for is that he has a severe fish allergy, and is suffering a stomach ache right now!
Yeah .. that's right.. walk away! .. This isn't over ..
9 comments:
Oh NO! Sorry to hear that story. I would have been very angry too, I didn't think you lived in an area with wildlife and he didn't seem to afraid of you either which means he is used to people. Moth balls keep geese off grass I wonder if it would work for racoons?
Keep two flat wooden boards about an half an inch thick in your hands and wait for the guy to appear. When he does, clap the boards hard so that the sound scares the hell out of him and hopefully that's the last you'll see of him!
Oh my...I'm so sorry but this post had me laughing so hard. It was the spanking with the fishing net that tipped me over into pure giggles...
Ok, sorry...I've got them under control now.
That must have been incredibly frustrating after getting your pond so beautiful. Those little raccoon paws are incredibly adept at causing all sorts of mischief!
The one thing that I think has saved me from having the same problem is the height of the stones around the pond, the weight of them over the filter box, and the depth of the pond that prevents predators from having an easy time of reaching in and grabbing a fish dinner.
I feel your pain, I've been noticing that the water level in my pond seems to be falling rather quickly even with all the rain we've been having...leaving me with the glum thought that once again the frost has shifted the rocks in the waterfall and I might have a leak...again.
Good luck combating your masked bandit :)
(and be careful, raccoons can be incredibly ornery when the mood possesses them)
How goes the pond? Has Rocky come back?
That *&%^! raccoon has been in my yard every night! I have no choice, I'm gonna have to trap him ... I may be sporting a new hat soon. :o)
Havahart traps work well with coons, they are such greedy little critters :)
Good luck!
Oh, rotten luck. Hope you get rid of him soon.
Keith gave the raccoon a good whack with a stick the other night, and I think that shook him up because he hasn't returned. That, or he is gathering reinforcements ..
Thank you for the headsup on "Havahart" traps. I'll look it up.
Outside of that, there are services that charge $175 to trap pests. I'd rather not shell out the dough for that. Too bad cats can't catch raccoons. Whiskers is a trapping machine!
You must forgive me but I couldn't help but laugh at your battles with Racky Raccon also. I was startled to see what damage it did to your pond and the rampage it did to your fish! I hope that you were able to put it back together again. That little goldfish had a miraculous escape.
Be careful with getting too close to that raccoon because they are prime carriers of rabies and are savage, aggressive fighters.
In this area, the animal control people have havahart traps that they loan people to catch raccoons, feral cats, etc. Usually, any fees that they might have are a lot less than the one you quoted above.
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