Critter Problems (again)
So I have once again fallen a bit on the quiet side on the blog. For the past 2 weeks I’ve been pulling 9-10 hours days at the gallery, 6 days a week (with a few more on Sundays for good measure.) I am soooo not complaining. Just shocking how quickly the weeks are moving by. As a result I have also not been able to try out my fixative theory. Perhaps tomorrow as I feel like I once again have handle on my work load.
So as to the critter problems
I’ve noticed our barn cats getting a little thin. It is summer so they shed out, but still they were not as plump as I like my cats to be. I increased the food (and I don’t feed out the generic stuff either) and they remained the same. So yesterday after chasing off a skunk in the front yard, I go do the cats. Then I head out and extend the grazing area for Chicory (he is still not free to graze to his hearts content. Probably by Sunday though, he will) then walk back into the barn to replug in the electric fence. And what do I find? A big boar coon hoarking down catfood as fast as he can, while my hungry cats glare balefully at him.
So I chase him off as well and tell Mike. The result is Mike asking his dad to borrow the rifle. We don’t actually have a gun. Well that’s not quite true. We have my grandfather’s gun which Mike grumblingly refers to as “the cannon.” We have always been a live and let live kind of farm. I really dislike racoons. They can spread disease, but more to the point they kill chickens and just tear up stuff (like shingles) for the fun of it. Other than live trapping (and setting them free far, far from home) we have pretty much just allowed them to be,
But it appears our “at one with nature” time has come to an end. Skunks, coons and badgers beware.
Tags: rants
wow racoons and skunks! I have never seen either in real life but have seen them on tv. Its funny how they can make these creatures out to be so cute and cuddly, when in actual fact they probably aren’t! We do have badgers over here though but they are protected, although farmers here very much dislike them…. : ) I hope that your cats start to gain weight once the raccoon has gone. mel x
I suppose they are cute (not cuddly though.) When we first moved to the farm I enjoyed seeing the racoons and often they had babies. But they are far and away the most obnoxious with their opposable thumbs. All the better to strangle chicken, pull the waterer plugs out (and toss them) and in general be a pain.
I walk almost everyday in the country. I see skunks, badgers, coyotes, racoons and oppossums quite often. Weasels and fox much less so. In general if you don’t harass them they pretty much leave you alone. Badgers are the only critters that evoke actual fear from me. (I give them a very wide berth) Not sure what they are like over there, but here they are fierce. Will take on a grizzly bear with little provocation.We had to kill one once. It decided to den up right next to the house. Mike had to dig it up with the tractor.
So now that I painted such a bummer of a mental picture, I must say that I love living in the country and all it’s wildlife. Just as long as they don’t try to kill me or my critters.
You should have seen our faces when we read that badgers will take on a grizzly, for a moment there we thought..ehh?…and then we realised that your badgers cant be the same as ours! Heres a link to a picture of the uk variety http://www.ravingbadgers.co.uk/Euro-Badger.jpg they are cute, they still have big teeth : ) but they wouldn’t attack you thank goodness! m xx
Yup, yours is definitely more cuddly looking.
I seen a national geographic show once where, while it didn’t actually fight a bear, it didn’t back away either. Eventually the bear ambled away.
Here’s a link of info from a wildlife park where I used to work. In it, it talks about Badgers killing animals the size of a horse.
http://www.bearcountryusa.com/animals/animal_info.php?id=3
Also here’s a photo of an american badger looking less than cuddly.
http://www.bearcountryusa.com/upload/animals_photos/badger_pic.jpg
We have plenty of problems with the racoons. Thank goodness we do not have badgers! I hate what opposumms can do to chickens (which I never would have suspected them to be predators, until living in the country) and also I hate the groundhogs digging under the barn. Have live trapped all of these. I used to drive them far away, but my friend shoots them. I recently got involved with a wildlife rescue (in the big city, 40 miles away!) that will take most animals if rabies not a concern, so I may try them in the future when I need to remove a critter that is crossing the boundaries and threatening the other critters who lilve here. Angela