Keep Food Scraps Away from Raccoons

Never leave food scraps in a fire pit or in an uncovered garbage can. Use care with your compost pile to cover all your food scraps so the food doesn't attract nasty animals like raccoons and skunks. Raccoons often carry rabies and can be surprisingly bold. Sometimes they aren't even afraid of humans!

We had to get rid of our bird feeder because it was attracting raccoons! The fruit trees in my neighbors yard were also attracting raccoons. A raccoon came into their fenced yard and attacked their dog! The raccoon latched on, and held on for dear life. My neighbor got the raccoon off her beloved pet, but it was a REAL struggle! The dog survived but she was lucky she didn't get bitten herself in the process! This was a fairly large dog. I'd hate to think what a raccoon would do to a small dog or even a child!

Also, it's not true that raccoons only come out at night. We have one that hangs out behind our yard during the day. It's so bold that when you throw rocks at it, it just stands it's ground, and boldly stares at you!

By Cyinda from near Seattle