Do you ever get the feeling you’re being robbed? I got it twice this past week and both times flicked on the back light to see a raccoon trying to abscond with my suet. Last evening I managed to take a photo of the charming culprit just before it ran into the woods, leaving the fresh suet ball swinging from the tree branch. But it must have returned later in the evening. This morning, the mesh bag was still there, but the suet was gone.
Ten to 25 raccoons per square km are typically found in Canadian urban centres. I don’t imagine there are fewer present in rural areas. In Nova Scotia, they’re classed as furbearers and receive legal protection.
Raccoons are opportunistic omnivores that can quickly become pests if they come to rely too heavily on a single food source in your yard. One left its paw prints on my back steps back in November after knocking over my garbage container. Securing the container’s lid more tightly prevented future visits.
One of my former neighbors had some tear up her lawn a few years ago while probably looking for grubs. The raccoons were trapped and relocated.
Raccoons can acquire both canine and feline distemper as well as rabies and should be kept away from warm blooded pets.
I don’t think I’ll be putting out any more suet balls. All that saturated fat can’t be good for the poor raccoons anyhow. Instead, I’ll smear some suet onto the bark of trees so that the chickadees and woodpeckers can still enjoy it during the daytime hours.
For more information on dealing with raccoons that have become a nuisance, see here.
We once had raccoons in our trash can. They ripped apart the bags and ate A LOT of trash!
I’ve always thought they are cute, but pests, too. 
They ARE cute Tacy. It’s too bad they tend to take advantage of human hospitality.
Growing up in Toronto, the raccoon / garbage can battle was a weekly occurance.
They make pretty good garbage cans but it’s pretty hard to outsmart a determined raccoon. Do you have a long clothes line Amy? You could try hanging the suet from the middle of that.
Sybil, I wonder if rural raccoons are as clever as raccoons with city street smarts…
Yes. I do have a long clothesline and years ago used to hang my suet from there in the winter. I was wondering about doing that again today.
You must have lightning-speed reactions if you managed to catch him on camera in the middle of the night like that! Good mugshot! I’m not sure that I would have had the presence of mind when astirred from the world of dreams by a hungry raccoon, so well done. You sure lead an exciting – and entertaining – life out there on the edge of the woods and the marshes.
I wonder what the South African equivalent of the raccoon would be… Hm… I think it’s baboons. The southern Cape peninsula has regular home-and-garden-and-garbage-can invasions by roaming troops of Chacma baboons. In fact, the problem is so severe, that a baboon monitoring group (Baboon Matters) was created to monitor their movements and activities, and to protect them from irate home-owners, among other threats.
It is an interesting – appalling – situation that has come about because humans have invaded vast areas of the baboons’ natural territory, destroying their habitats, interfering with their normal behaviours, poisoning, shooting or hurting them because they are ‘a nuisance’, killing them for food or for African traditional medicine (muti), using them for medical experiments, etc.
Reggie, it was in the early evening when this culprit stopped by, so I was still wide awake. Luckily, the camera was nearby.
Some parts of town here have more problems with raccoons getting into their garbage than we do. Like the baboons, they sometimes forage in groups. I would think that the baboons would exhibit far more intimidating behavior than the raccoons.
Thanks for providing the links Reggie.
Yes, I think that the baboons are definitely far more intimidating. They are also extremely clever and street smart! I recently heard of a baboon that had worked out how to open a car door to get inside a car parked at a viewing site. That can’t have been fun for the owners!
I see that the baboon monitoring group conducts walks to the troops from time to time, to educate people about baboon behaviour – and what not to do when you’re hiking somewhere in the mountains and are confronted by a troop! I’ve often wondered what we would do if our picnic was disturbed by foraging chacmas, because they sure are large when you’re on foot!
Yikes Reggie, I don’t know how I’d react to crossing paths with a troop of baboons in the woods. If they’re clever enough to singularly break into cars, I can just imagine what they’re capable of collectively.
What very cool information on the baboons, Reggie! That’s what I love about it here – the viewpoints/experiences that everyone share!
We live in the ‘country’ and usually only have a problem with coons at camp….they race us to the wild plums in the fall. We won this year – bless my husband’s heart as he picked them from a ladder and he doesn’t like heights
– and are still enjoying wild plum jelly!
Giggle… Well done to your husband! And congratulations on creating home-made wild plum jelly – that sounds heavenly!
EXACTLY! Their eyes glow in the dark like my old cat, Scout’s eyes used to. It’s a little freaky, but you could always tell where he was. One time he (Scout) got out into the woods, and we found him thanks to his glowing green eyes!
Thanks for the awesome post.
Great that you were able to find your cat so easily Tacy. What struck me about the raccoon’s eyes were how closely set they were compared to most mammals.
When reading about your suet ball hanging outside, in a previous post, I wondered how long it would stay put in your neighbourhood. Here it is the crows and magpies who are the robbers, so I have stopped hanging them as well. Granted, they are birds too, – but the idea was to feed the small ones
Eldrid, I’ve put out suet for years and this is the first time I’ve had not just one but two balls stolen by a raccoon. All the other years I’ve taken the remnants in once the weather warmed and the woodpeckers and chickadees had their fill of it.
Love the eyes on that “bandit”! We don’t see raccoons too often…I actually love seeing them. Sometimes they (or another small animal) dig up the fish that Barry puts in the garden for compost.
Kathy, though I know they’re considered pests, it was a delight to see him/her go about the business of trying to abscond with the suet. It must be quite entertaining to see them dig up the fish. Not so entertaining once you’ve already planted the seeds though!
[...] For more about raccoons see: The Lawn Ripper and When Bandits Strike [...]