Suicidal Raccoons?

[ET Awful]

Okay, this is just weird. On my drive to work today, I saw no fewer than 4 dead raccoons by the side of the road. What's odd is that there was a great deal of distance between them, the 4 were spread over about a 25 mile drive altogether.

Now even putting aside the fact that raccoons are one of my favorite animals and I hate seeing them like that, isn't it just creepy that I'd see that many in one trip?

Weird :(

Poor things.

[MrScorpio]

1. They must be depressed

It's going around

[demnan]

2. I don't know

but if they are mating they are probably more vulnerable to being hit by cars right now. Sorry you had to see that, I hate seeing animals hit by cars.

[ET Awful]

3. Fortunately they weren't. . . messy . . in any way, just lying there :(

I just really like raccoons. They're such playful animals, and very clever. Not to mention the fact that any animal smart enough to wash its food before it eats is alright in my book.

How could you not love faces like this:

[democrat in Tallahassee]

4. we had 2 baby racoons picking figs off our tree last year while

the mother watched; the branches weren't big enough to support her weight.

[ET Awful]

8. Hehehe, what a good mom :). n/t

[DIKB]

5. Not quite.

The reason they wash the food is to get it wet. I believe they lack salivary glands, it's been a while since I read up on it.

Given that they wash everything, and you can keep them like cats (until they are full-grown). A fun trick you can do with them:

Give them a sugar cube.
They try to wash it and it dissolves.
Instant animal confusion.

A little cruel, but in a harmless way, lol

[ET Awful]

7. I've done that :). I gave them real food after to make up for it though

Where I grew up in Arizona, there was a little animal farm/petting zoo (in this town it was one of the only places exciting to take little kids, it was a small town). They had a few raccoons that were super friendly.

They also had the coolest little goats. I'm not sure if it was the right name, but they called them pygmy goats. They looked just like a billy goat, but they were tiny. They were also feisty. If you ticked them off, they'd start head-butting you :).

[freebird1]

6. they're so cute

... and it's sad to see any animal dead on the roadway.

I brake for animals to give em a chance!

[ET Awful]

9. Me too. I actually stopped traffic on a really busy street during rush

hour one time to let a family of geese cross :).

[freebird1]

10. We all need to what we can, whenever we can.

My friends stop to help turtles cross the road :hi:

[ET Awful]

11. I almost hit a turtle one day. Poor little thing.

I saw him (or her, how can you tell with a turtle?) just in time, and swerved, then slowed down and watched him finish his trek across the road.

Fortunately this was a pretty remote road, so he made it safe across. If there'd been traffic, I probably would have gone back, picked him up and carried him the rest of the way :)

[freebird1]

12. you could try asking the turtle

:shrug: because I haven't a clue as to how to tell the difference either. There's a big old guy/gal that walks across my property every spring to go from my neighbor's pond to a nearby stream. It's pretty cute but it scares the daylight's outta my parrot.

[ET Awful]

15. I looked real close, it wasn't wearing lipstick or a skirt

:)

[freebird1]

19. that's not conclusive investigation

But then I never get too close to something that could bite my finger off unless there's been a formal introduction first !

[NV Whino]

26. I've done that. They're so damned slow. I just help them along.

[Ernesto]

22. Looks like the snarling, spitting little monsters that I trapped

just this week. Up close, a wild raccoon is not @ all friendly. For all you bunny huggers out there, both my captured 'coons ended up being released in a nature preserve in the California Delta. No more dog or cat food for those guys!

[ET Awful]

24. You wouldn't be friendly either if some dude 5 times your size trapped

you in a cage and hauled you away :).

[KurtNYC]

23. They are closely related to Panda bears

I gather they didn't appear to have been hit by cars? Frequently, when people throw gum, candy, food or food wrappers out of their cars, they stick to the road. Animals go onto the pavement, start eating and pow!

[bertha katzenengel]

13. Lethal sarcasm drips from my fingertips...

...but fortunately I have stopped it in time. (It began "people should keep their raccoons ind--....")

I hate to see dead raccoons, too. There's always lots of road kill where I live. Mostly squirrels, raccoons, and possums.

I have nearly hit deer and fox. :scared:

The only things I've killed in the road out here are frogs. They're kinda hard to miss; after a hot summer thunderstorm, they carpet the two-lane road leading to my house. :(

I'm sorry for your raccoons, ET.

[ET Awful]

14. Yeah, swerving around frogs and toads is a bit tough, especially

when they're basking on the roadway en masse.

I thought maybe you had it in for the raccoons for raiding your catfood :).

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Heh heh. My cats are tough. They keep Rocky away from the food

until they are satisfied. Rocky gets the leftovers. :D

[ET Awful]

17. Rocky Raccoon checked into his room

only to find Gideons Bible.


Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota
There lived a young boy named Rocky Raccoon
And one day his woman ran off with another guy
Hit young Rocky in the eye Rocky didn't like that
He said I'm gonna get that boy
So one day he walked into town
Booked himself a room in the local saloon.

Rocky Raccoon checked into his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
Rocky had come equipped with a gun
To shoot off the legs of his rival
His rival it seems had broken his dreams
By stealing the girl of his fancy.
Her name was Magil and she called herself Lil
But everyone knew her as Nancy.
Now she and her man who called himself Dan
Were in the next room at the hoe down
Rocky burst in and grinning a grin
He said Danny boy this is a showdown
But Daniel was hot-he drew first and shot
And Rocky collapsed in the corner.

Now the doctor came in stinking of gin
And proceeded to lie on the table
He said Rocky you met your match
And Rocky said, Doc it's only a scratch
And I'll be better I'll be better doc as soon as I am able.

Now Rocky Raccoon he fell back in his room
Only to find Gideon's bible
Gideon checked out and he left it no doubt
To help with good Rocky's revival.

[bertha katzenengel]

18. It makes me feel old to realize I know all the words to that song.

;)

It makes me feel older that two of my sisters' kids are adults. Sigh.

[THUNDER HANDS]

20. two nights ago i almost ran over a rabbit

i was the only car on the road and it just jumped out in front of my car when i was about 10 feet from it.

You'd think it would just wait until I pass, but no.

I think small animals and birds like challenging cars and seeing how close they can come without getting hit. Must be thrilling to them - well, the ones that make it anyway.

[ChickMagic]

21. I hate that too.

That happens a lot at this time of year. It's warm during the day, but gets pretty cool at night. The road has a lot of radiant energy so racoons, possums and armadillos like to sit there to get warm.

It took me about 6 hrs one spring to get to Dallas from Stephenville (normally about 2 1/2 hr) because I stopped to move turtles all the way back. :)

[fudge stripe cookays]

25. : (

I ran over an armadillo once. But that's sort of a Texan rite of passage or something.

FSC

[kick-ass-bob]

27. I'll go where others haven't. Maybe they pooped....

:evilgrin:

in someone's garden.


That is bizarre though.
THey are cool - I trapped one in a cage trying to grab a cat one day. THat was fun trying to let him out!
:o

[ImpeachBush]

28. During my stint with the Forest Service ...

There were several people on my crew that went out of their way to run over small animals on roadways, even when driving FS vehicles. It always pissed me off, and I reported them several times for this behavior (nothing was ever done about it, though). The irony is that one day, as we sat at a forest campground lunching (we were building a log fence that day), I fed scraps of my sandwich to a squirrel. I would toss a bit of bread a short distance away, and the little squirrel would run down the side of a tree, out into the open, to grab the morsel and have a snack. About the fifth time the squirrel ran out to fetch the scrap, I saw a huge shadow and heard a swoosh. Before I knew it, this hawk had swooped down from another tree, snatched the little squirrel, and flew away with it. It was a long time before these bloodthirsy crewpersons let me forget that I was responsible for the death of a small, innocent creature. I felt horrible about it and have not repeated this bahavior since.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. Traditional spring roadkilll...

My sister is a wildlife rehaber down in Texas. It's pretty known in that world that when spring arrives, the number of dead/injured wildlife goes through the roof. Best guess is that with spring comes mating season, which causes animals to wander in much larger areas further away than they normally do to seek out a bit of nookie.