raccoons will defend themselves

if cornered,

make no mistake. We know, we've been talking about raccoons almost as though they were skipping through our neighborhood on harmless tippy-toes, scattering flower petals. But these creatures, sometimes ferocious, - they ARE (base-word) feral, you know - are not to be messed with. I have a domestic pussycat, Mona, who does some of my bidding in exchange for catfood, but I count myself lucky if my brushes with sewer raccoons are strictly friendly. As when they knock on the door, as they so often do, courteously seeking an occasional raccoon cracker. Or come to nip a few grapes, or harmlessly pick up a piece of gutter glitter for their underground king's cape.

A friend writes that he has a 50 pound raccoon raiding his garbage cans. He is incensed, saying, "I'm gonna get that (damn) coon!!!" After I read that, the next time I saw that 50 pound raccoon I told him what John said. HE said, "You tell that guy next time I'm gonna get HIM!!!!!" End of exercise.

We relative newcomers to the raccoons' habitat must remember that they were here long before we were. Way before the waters of the Fox ran silt-free. It was they who precedeth us and not more of ourselves. The old biblical homily about man having dominion over nature is inept. I want to say, "hogwash".

A woman wrote today that she lives in rural Ohio and recently had another raccoon tree'd by her dog. She had to put her dog in the garage to give the raccoon a chance to escape. She performed a real service for her dog, I'd say.

Another long-time friend who has been to the woodshed and in his day seen somethings nasty in coon country, wrote the following:

When chased by dogs and they can't make it back to their den they will run to water that is 2 - 3 ft. deep, if they can, so when they get on the dog's head they can drown it. But, if deep water is unavailable they'll use any water. When I saw this the coon sunk his teeth into the dog's nose and didn't let go even when the dog tried slinging its head. Eventually the dog tired out and with the weight of the coon, his nose finally is under the water. Also, by hanging on to the nose the dog can't make a life threatening bite on the coon's throat. If this doesn't work, coon hunters have reported the coon getting on the dog's neck /head to force it into the water.

Men with coon dogs are a different breed. Avid hunters can turn their dogs lose and wait until they 'tree' a coon- tell by their howling. They can even tell whose dog it is - sometimes a mile away. They build a small fire, sit around and tell stories etc. until they hear the right sounds- they can tell when their dog(s) have picked up the scent and are on their trail. Sometimes, hunters can spend a few hours waiting for a 'strike'. Frankly, I never liked watching coon/dog fights. I heard stories how a big 'he' coon' was able to whip 3 dogs. They have very sharp claws - can rip a dog to shreds, in time. The 'sport' seemed rather cruel to me. Avid hunters will even cut down a tree with a den just to see a fight. No way, not me.

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My kind of language, Bob!