Man Helps Raccoon Caught In Beer Can (Florida, With Pic)

Fort Myers News-Press ^ | October 27, 2002

[Shermy]

Coors Light and curiosity were almost a dangerous combination for a Bonita Springs raccoon.

The fluffy black and white masked creature spent more than a week climbing trees and hobbling around the shores of the eastern Imperial River with a rusty, dented Coors Light beer can stuck on her paw.

[Calvin Locke]

I kept getting skunks trying to get a woodchuck. Got a couple of cats, one opossum, billions of gray squirrels, too.

Note: Broccoli for woodchucks. Peanut butter for just about anything else.

Somehow missed the rabid racoon that was wandering around.

[dead]

Meanwhile, the racoon is probably thinking he's got these two-legged son of a gun humans who paved over his forest and now he's got to look in garbage cans for food.

If the raccoon had a problem with that, he oughta thought to invent himself a gun.

[blackdog]

From May through November, raccoons are the farm version of the Viet Cong. When hens hatch chicks, raccoons eat them. When hens are sitting on clutches, raccoons chase em off and eat em. Sweet Corn is ravaged by them in July. Corn Cribs are torn to bits by the beasts. They have discovered that I won't shoot them(and yes they do rove in packs) when they are clinging to the rafters in my machine shed(don't want to shoot holes in my roof). Now whenever chasing them off from one building to another they run into the machine shed and sit there. I've tried dislodging them with long poles but by the time I drop the pole, pick up the gun, put a round in the chamber the damn thing has scurried back up the wall and is sitting with his brethren again.

I have an Australian Cattle Dog that is viscious with them. The only problem is that she gets mighty bit up in the conflict. She kills a few each year. I shoot about a dozen or so inside the barn or at the corn crib each year. We don't make a dent. The wost thing is when you trap or kill a momma coon. For weeks you have unsupervised coon yout's wandering around.

The only thing worse than coons is skunks. Anyone who can tell me how to shoot or rid me of skunks without them spraying gets a free leg of lamb. A friend told me that if you soak marshmallows in acepromazine that the skunks will eat it and become anesthetised. I just ended up with staggering cats, coons and skunks. The skunks don't like being drugged and they just spray at will. The same guy told me that if you trap them and pick them up by the tail that they won't spray either. I'm not falling for that one. One skunk incident can really ruin the home life for a few weeks.

[eastforker]

Funny,your post didn't mention that he fell over.Watching a coon in the wild and watching one take up a defensive position are two differant things.Been around wildlife all my life son,have seen animals do some amazing things,like deer crawling,not running wich they could have done,through a ravine to avoid detection. I will kill an animal if I want to eat it,I will not kill for sport or pleasure.

[rintense]

Oh I have lots of experience with coons. My family has been the neighborhood humane society for as long as I can remember. We've treated every kind of critter possible. Seems that when I bought my own place, the critters knew exactly where to come. Within a month in my new place, I had cats, coons, and possums at my door.

A baby skunk has even sprayed me! It was trapped in a window well, and had been down there for a while, and kids were throwing stuff at it. And with temps in the mid 90s, I knew it wouldn't last long. So, with food and water in hand, I crawled into the window well, which was around 4 feet deep 3 feet wide and deep. I kept talking calmly to it as I lowered myself. He walked over and drank the water, and then sniffed the food. I was actually sitting in the well, on the opposite side of it. Well, after he smelled the food, he decided to come smell me. I kept talking to him, but I decided I didn't like the look in his eye, and jumped out of the window well. He obviously didn't like my sudden exit, and sprayed the back of my legs on the way out! Now, let me just say this. The skunk smell on the road when you pass one that has just been hit is NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING like being right next to it when it sprays. Lost a good pair of tevas, and my car smelled for days.

Happy ending... the Humane Society came a rescued the baby skunk and set him free.

Did I learn a lesson? Maybe. I am a sucker for a pair of sorrowful eyes and will help any animal in need. Call me stupid, but that's just the way I am.

[paddles]

"The he-coon walks just before the light of day."

Unfortunately, the she-coon couldn't see and stepped in the frigging beer can the sonofabitch dropped behind him.

[hot august night]

It's always refreshing to hear kind-hearted people go out of their way for animals...you see a lot of these stories about animals being saved -- and then repaying their saviors -- on "Miracle Pets" on PAX (cable). Great show.

It always enrages me when I am walking down the street and see kids (and others -- I've seen illegals do this as well in my town) unwrap a candy bar, finish a soda, or slice of pizza, and then, without hesitation, non-chalantly and brazenly toss the wrapper/can/paper plate on the sidewalk. As a child, I would have never even considered doing this, having consideration for others, for the environment, and for animals. If I buy a six pack of soda, I always cut up those indestructible plastic rings before tossing them in the garbage, so animals foraging in the dump don't get tangled in them.

[Ditter]

I would have shot it too. People like to help wild creatures because it makes *them* feel good, and thats OK. Now that it is well it can get smushed on the road by a car. We just returned from a VERY long road trip & we probably saw one dead racoon every 2 miles. That would come to about 1500 dead racoons in 2 weeks.

[null and void]

I think you missed the point...

[hot august night]

It's always refreshing to hear kind-hearted people go out of their way for animals...you see a lot of these stories about animals being saved -- and then repaying their saviors -- on "Miracle Pets" on PAX (cable). Great show.

It always enrages me when I am walking down the street and see kids (and others -- I've seen illegals do this as well in my town) unwrap a candy bar, finish a soda, or slice of pizza, and then, without hesitation, non-chalantly and brazenly toss the wrapper/can/paper plate on the sidewalk. As a child, I would have never even considered doing this, having consideration for others, for the environment, and for animals. If I buy a six pack of soda, I always cut up those indestructible plastic rings before tossing them in the garbage, so animals foraging in the dump don't get tangled in them.

[null and void]

They have discovered that I won't shoot them(and yes they do rove in packs) when they are clinging to the rafters in my machine shed(don't want to shoot holes in my roof).

Use CB caps - squib loaded .22's. They won't penetrate the roofing, but a well placed shot can kill a racoon. A not so well placed shot will make 'em move on...

[Diddle E. Squat]

Poison.

[SauronOfMordor]

They have discovered that I won't shoot them(and yes they do rove in packs) when they are clinging to the rafters in my machine shed(don't want to shoot holes in my roof).

Have you tried a CO2 pellet gun? Seems like it would hurt them while not making a hole in your roof

[eastforker]

It is true,a skunk must lift his tail to spray,had a pet skunk as a kid.Dad caught the skunk laying in the manger where the cows fed,had a baited spot,when momma and two youngens appeared he grabbed one by the tail and got outa dodge.We got it to the vet who knocked it out and did the surgery to eliminate the smell gland.We still got forty year old film to show it,along with the coons,owls,foxes and wild white rabbits we had as pets.We didn't have pet stores.

[arthurus]

with a rusty, dented Coors Light

Rusty? This is an aluminum can, yes? Whence the rust?

[bert]

...with a rusty, dented Coors Light beer....

Media license.....aluminum cans don't rust.

Coons are not black and white as anybody who has ever seen a coon can testify.

She illustrates exactly why the press can not be trusted. They tell you anything they want, truth or facts be damned.

[billhilly]

The dog limped into the bar on three legs and asked,"Where's the man that shot my paw?

[Thinkin' Gal]

The fat raccoon ran away, and never came back, so I guess they can also learn from bad experiences.

Guess it wasn't related to Ted Kennedy.

[Doomonyou]

Drunk and incarcerated Racoon.

[sam_paine]

rusty, dented Coors Light beer can....

Uh, whu? I don't believe Coors Light existed before aluminum cans were ubiquitous. In other words, it wasn't rusty, fuzzy wuzzy.