Racoons are cute - but . . . .

Raccoons are cute – but they are wild animals.

I’ve been watching the raccoon interact with her offspring this week. She has some different behavior patterns from the previous mother raccoon from a couple of years ago.

The previous mother raccoon was very patient and tolerant of her offspring. She would let her kitts eat first and was generally pretty gentle with them. She was also very wary of me and would take off if she saw too much movement by me in the house.

The current raccoon is much more aggressive. She doesn’t share the dog food with her offspring and will snarl and fight with them if they get too close while she’s eating. She’s also less wary of me. She’ll come up to the screen door where I’m watching and isn’t bothered by my walking around in the house or coming up to the door.

I had been putting out some yogurt for her when she came up to eat. I had to shoo her away because she wouldn’t run when I opened the door to place the bowl on the deck. I’ve quit putting the yogurt out because I felt she was getting far to acclimated to my presence and because she generally has a more assertive demeanor.

The 3 kitts have different personalities as well. There is one that is most assertive. He, she, it – whatever it is will fight back with the mother at the food bowl and snarls and fights with the other 2 kitts.

One is the meekest and gets pushed around a lot by the aggressive kitt and mother raccoon. Not surprisingly it’s also the runt of the litter – obviously only gets leftover food. The runt of the litter also makes the baby raccoon trilling sound a lot – which is a call for the mother and siblings. Seems as though it needs or wants more attention and security – which it doesn’t get. It’s also the most hesitant to explore and hides a lot while the others check out food and eat.

The middle baby raccoon is just that. Kind of in the middle when pushing for food, asserting itself, exploring and such.

The previous raccoon would keep a close eye on her babies. When they would make sounds she would immediately go and investigate what was up.

The current raccoon doesn’t bother. She just lets the kitts fight and cry and ignores them. I’ve watched the whole family take off for the woods and simply leave the runt behind.

Last night for example, the mother and top 2 offspring left the food bowl, went to the water fountain to drink and clean up and then left the deck headed for the back yard and woods. The runt stayed near the food bowl to find whatever food was left and didn’t see the others leave. When it realized it was alone, it immediately started to call for its mother and family. The rest, in the yard, made no answering calls and the mother didn’t come back to find the one left behind. The runt eventually saw where the others were and took off to follow them.

It’s interesting how sounds elicit responses. When a baby cries or even when a puppy or kitten cries, there’s a natural tendency to want to help. The sound a baby raccoon makes does the same thing. Last night, when it was crying and calling, I wanted to go outside and shoo it off the deck and towards the family. But you have to resist and let nature take its course.

They’re fun to watch – but they are not pets.

I have to limit my interference to putting out food 2 or 3 times a week.