Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago · 4 min. reading time · ~100 ·

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The Saga of Mama Raccoon

The Saga of Mama Raccoon

Ls”It started with a scratching noise around early dark thirty, one night.

I was rudely awakened by an elbow in the ribs and a whispered, “Did you hear that?”

I, of course, had no idea.

“Listen,” she said, “there it is again.”

So I crawled out of the covers, put on some slippers, grabbed a flashlight and went outside where I surmised it was the rose bushes on the side of the house bending in the breeze and making themselves known inside.

The following night was a repeat. Only this time all concerned knew the sound was coming from the attic right above our heads.

So I maneuvered my way through the entry in the top of a closet and shone my trusty flashlight on what I immediately though was a skunk. I was out of there faster than a world champion track star.

My observation that there was a skunk up there caused a guffaw, titters and other mirth until a Google search indicated that a tree climbing skunk is found in this part of Oregon.

I climbed back through the hole to confirm and was happy to see the mask of a Mama raccoon ready to defend 4 little ones. We had a storm and a tree branch had put a hole in the roof. Apparently she had enlarged the hole that I had not yet repaired in order to get in.

Night three all hell broke loose. Imagine screams and growls in the same decibel range as emergency vehicles gone mad. Add to that the sounds of heavyweight wrestlers banging on the matt and each other with abandon. That’s about half of what the noise was like. You do not want to be anywhere near two raccoons fighting.

It was a Mexican standoff. A big male raccoon had come in to kill Mama raccoon’s little ones. She sent them to hide and then teed off on the culprit. He tried to get away but she beat him to the escape hatch. In order to get out he would have to go through a buzz saw of one very angry Mama.

We wound up calling the fire department. One young fireman and I drew the short straws to go into the attic and tell the guys on the outside what was going on. Outside, they broke out about 16 feet of my shake roof over the soffit panels on the back side of the house. A fireman outside spotted the big male and managed to get one of those nooses attached to a pole (an animal control pole) over his head and snugged down. He lifted about 60 pounds of really pissed off raccoon out of hole yelling, “I got him, I got him!” Over the growling and snarling he finally said, “What the hell do I do with him?” The chief said, All we can do is catch and release.” With that a very large angry raccoon was dropped about 20 feet into the back yard. He hit with a whuff and disappeared.

The fireman put a strip of visquine over the hole they had made to keep it dry until I could patch the roof.

Meanwhile Mama raccoon and the little ones had disappeared. The fireman and I shone flashlights all over the attic. Nothing.

That night we heard the visquine being torn. We heard the tiny voices of the little ones. Our quest to get them out of the attic began anew. Animal control offered to give us some traps and poisoned bait. No, they would not attempt a capture. Independent folks that handle this sort of thing were not helpful either.

My accountant came up with the answer. He owned a getaway cabin on the Tootle River (later destroyed when Mt St. Helens blew) and he told me that at one point a Bobcat had taken up residence under the porch of the cabin. He told me, “I put my stereo speakers face down on the porch turned on some John Phillips Souza at about 9 on the volume control and that cat just marched right out of there.”

So that weekend I got some long wires, humped the speakers through the hole in the closet, hooked them up and put on the heavy duty Rock station in town as loud as I could get it and we went to the beach for the day. No raccoon sere in residence when we returned.

The next day I patched the roof but as I was walking across our covered porch from the garage I saw a paw print on one of the 4 x 6 corner beams. I looked up and there she was in the soffet panels. Later we would learn that three of the little ones had made it out with her.

We watched the little ones grow up. About one fourth of the roof on that porch was open to the sky. Little raccoons can run on the two-inch side of 2 x 6 beam 20 feet up in the air like you and I walk on level ground. It got to the point that we knew each of them by their markings and their personalities. My daughter would watch them romp and giggle at their antics. Yes, we gave them names but we had learned not to feed them or try to touch them.

If you have a friendly raccoon you don’t need a guard dog. As we learned to coexist Mama raccoon came to know us and our voices. I would come down the driveway from work and start across the porch and hear a whirring sound that I soon learned was raccoon for “Who goes there?” I’d say, “It’s just me Mama.” She would pop up and look at me. Then there would be another sound that I interpreted as “Okay. You may pass.”

If we came home in the evening, after dark we could hear her on the roof with the same questioning sound and response but if the moon was just right you could see her fiery eyes. In all the time the raccoons shared our home no dogs, cats or other animals would come into the yard. Humans that didn’t know about her also got scared.

One day they were gone. I came home from work and there was no greeting. We knew it was coming as the little ones no longer had hairless tales and they had grown masks. But it still caught us by surprise.

Cinnamon came back. The little female we had named Cinnamon showed up one evening about a year later. She was accompanied by a big burly fellow that could easily have been a stand-in for every pirate you’ve ever imagined. A scar ran across his nose and cheek below one eye and the ear opposite had a chunk out of it and was permanently bent over. They were standing on their hind feet awash in the light in the middle of the porch looking in to see us in the family room. We all went to the sliding door to ooh and aah. That seemed to be what she and her mate were expecting. The looked at one another and then vanished into the night.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

687a5e59.pngJerry Fletcher is a beBee ambassador, founder and Grand Poobah of www.BrandBrainTrust.com

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development on and off-line. He is also a sought-after International Speaker.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking:
www.NetworkingNinja.com


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Comments

Lisa Gallagher

6 years ago #20

#14
Ok, that would freak me out too!

Dominique 🐝 Petersen

6 years ago #19

#5
My favourite, Paul! https://www.bebee.com/producer/@dominique-petersen/music-history-the-march-king

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #18

#5
Paul, it was the bobcat tht marched out to Souza. We ran Mama out of the attic with rock and roll. I think it is the noise level that gets 'em. Of course, these days I don't have a taste for either myself.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #17

#4
Thanks Geoff, I'll take a look.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #16

#10
Ali, The true stories are always the best.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #15

#9
Glad you enjoyed it Joyce.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #14

#8
lisa, believe me a racoon is a lot easier to face in your attic than a skunk! One night where I live now I was chatting with a neighbor when this ungodly screeching and snarling started up. She was scared to death. It was two raccoons fighting in a tree. We moved the conversation inside and locked the door.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #13

#3
My ex father in law put in a garden when he was living beside a national forest. The critters treated it like a smorgasbord especially for them. HIs attempts to keep it safe finally wound up with an 8 foot high electrified fence. It makes me wonder what the pioneers did.

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #12

#2
They are brilliant little bandits!

Jerry Fletcher

6 years ago #11

#1
Thanks Dom

Ali Anani

6 years ago #10

A great story to read and ponder on
What a delightful story. Thank you so much for sharing.

Lisa Gallagher

6 years ago #8

Hey my comment got cut off... second time tonight - when I tried to add my homemade emoticon.

Lisa Gallagher

6 years ago #7

#5
Paul Walters here is my laughter emoticon %

Lisa Gallagher

6 years ago #6

Jerry Fletcher I've watched a few shows that show case critters in attics and one happened to be a large family of raccoons. I have to give you credit, you were more patient than I would have been. The idea of them being up there would have freaked me out. I ran my dog out one evening and as we were just about to cross my breezeway a BIG raccoon walked in front of my dog. It scared my dog and he tried to bite the raccoon. The raccoon let out a vicious growl while turning it's head toward my dog and then ran off. My heart was beating so fast. I'm glad he missed him with his teeth. I've had a few bats in my home and I threatened to go to a hotel if they weren't found right away LOL!! One came in through the attic and we found the tiny hole, the other came through an open door when my husband was doing work. Critters creep me out ;-) Glad you figured out how to take care of the problem.

Paul Walters

6 years ago #5

Jerry Fletcher John Phillips Souza Does the Racoon have no taste!!

Geoff Hudson-Searle

6 years ago #4

Great share Jerry, I just love nature, have a read of this link on Raccoon's https://www.spirit-animals.com/raccoon-symbolism/

Alan Culler

6 years ago #3

Great story, Jerry The suburb where we live is infiltrated with wildlife. I have learned that raccoons love my garbage and collaborate to get into the can, groundhogs eat only the most expensive wildflowers, deer can easily jump a six foot fence and eat everything except day lilies, foxes are noisy when they mate, squirrels are very resourceful when it comes to bird feeders and opossum's are shy, but very ugly when you do see them. It's frustrating sometimes when they eat our plants, but generally we're glad that they let us share their space.

Mohammed Abdul Jawad

6 years ago #2

How sometimes we, humans, understand those little, smart creatures. Indeed, a good story!

Dominique 🐝 Petersen

6 years ago #1

Great story! ;o)

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