R for Raccoon - wildlife lessons

Some months ago we had a problem with local wildlife: A raccoon came into our attic and destroyed the ducts from our air conditioning system. Together with an opossum - which we suspect to have taken our one and only tomato this year - this triggered us to install a Blink indoor/outdoor camera system.

To our surprise, the first animal we caught was a skunk. It was looking fluffy and quite cute, but we didn't want to risk any pets bringing bad smells into our house so we arranged for safe transport to an alternative location. Then a couple of nights later we caught an opossum, and a young raccoon, and another skunk, and another opossum...and then this:

By this time, we had to start naming them in order to keep track of things. The most recent ones were called R[redacted] and S[redacted], after some people we know.

The trap you see in the video works fine for smaller animals, but adult raccoons are too strong and too smart for it - we learned this the hard way, as evidenced by a wrecked cage. After a motion alert from the camera we'd only have about 5 minutes until the raccoon would break free. Finally, we decided to stop baiting the trap, and now we have Thomas the raccoon and Umberto the opossum visiting us every so often.

At the end of the day, we did not really change the situation. We still have raccoons and opossums around our house, and one day they may still get into the attic and wreak havoc, or eat our veggies. But now that we know who'd do it, we see that as a small price to pay for the family entertainment and joy Thomas and Umberto bring us every day.

Some problems and opportunities are a matter of perspective - you may not be able to change them, but you can change how you think about them

[ Disclaimer: Any semblance between animals and colleagues or other people in my life is purely coincidental. No wildlife was harmed in this process, to date ]