Hi this is interesting. My little chihuahua part terrier attacked a racoon in my yard. would you believe my dog came out of that quite unschathed. A cut in her hip, and a sore leg muscle. What should a person do do the dog need a shot. That was about 2 months ago and shes getting rather vicious.I soaked her in salt water.

I disagree. My dad (who had 3 sisters and 2 brothers) owned 3 pet raccoons as pets and they never harmed anyone. I have pictures of the raccoons and they are awfully cute. None of them had EVER attacked anyone.

Hey you leave my sister alone. She could have been seriously injured when that raccoon was ridding her bike to work!

Fred, I think the most humane way to kill a smaller animal of any kind is to step on them and slowly crush them to death. They say that this is completely painless, if done slowly, with a lot of force applied.

Good luck!

It seems like the long term solution would be to use a deterrent of some kind rather than trapping and killing them.

SUCCESS! Coincidentally my raccoon trap caught a little baby raccoon just this evening! I'm beside myself wondering what punishment fits the crime of being a raccoon.

If any of you have any ideas about how I can best kill this little guy, post them here. I'm just going to leave him in the cage until Sunday evening- I'm going out of town to a friend's funeral- I mean wedding- and I'll check back when I get home to see if there are any good ideas.

Until then, Happy T-Day and God Bless!

You'd probably be best never leaving your house. Nature obviously has something against you.
Amonia would be the best thing you could surround your home with. It will keep everything away.

I disagree about the poison. Put a dish of large rodent poison outside by your front door and another outside by your back door (or, if you don't have any rodent poison, use anti-freeze- it's just as good).

If you train your dog or cat properly with a choke chain you should be able to get it to avoid the poison for the most part. Keep stupid animals inside for a few days until all of the raccoons are dead. After they die, remember they're all natural and perfectly biodegradable, so it won't hurt anything if you just throw them into the canal down by the locks or just huck them off the Ballard bridge. This is legal, so don't let the police tell you any different.

There's entirely too much weeping and hand wringing over animals today. I grew up on a farm- an alligator farm- and we used everything from spoiled chicken from the grocery stores to stray cats to keep those lizards alive and it worked! We sold more gator hides and skulls than any other farm in Northeast Florida. I don't think Dad would be able to run a business like that around here, with all of the animal huggers he'd have to contend with in the hippy-dippy Northwest. In your heart you know I'm right.

Just my two cents.

PLEASE please please.....do not put out poison (or anti-freeze). Firstly, it's a cruel way to deal with this sort of problem and more importantly, you will more likely end up killing someone's cat or dog. Also, if you poison a wild animal and it expires under your house, in your attic or in a wall, you (or your neighbor) will have a very smelly and expensive problem to deal with. I've had friends who had to tear out part of a wall in their house because a rat died in it.

How about a walking stick. You will look quite jaunty and you will be able to wack it. Multi-purpose accessories are important.

For the love of God, E/C do not leave out homemade poison in my neighborhood. Or any neighborhood. That is surely illegal and is highly disturbing.

Worse times are ahead. A friend of mine in Seward Park told me that she and her neighbors saw a trio of coyotes walking up the middle of her street in the afternoon a couple of months back, and some other friends saw a coyote padding down the sidewalk a week ago on Beacon Hill. I'd imagine we'll all be getting up close and personal with them soon. We'll look back on killer raccoons and possums with warm, fond memories.

*says

antifreeze is not the answer. for the reasons boardbrown stays.

Be cautious E/C, 'cause you could just as easily attract & kill a neighbor's pet.

"Shake Away" does not work..tried it for months, they still showed up. They sell it at Sky Nursery. If I feed it antifreeze it will die elsewhere, that works for me....Most of my neighbors have their garbage in their garages, but cat food or dog food left out is a real attraction. I believe I have a neighbor who may feed them..I am telling you they are huge, and obviously well fed....kinda worried I mayhave to buy the big gallon of antifreeze now that I think about it...

Saying it's illegal to kill a raccoon is misleading. If the thing is in the middle of attacking you or your pets kill it.

A hunting or trapping license is required to hunt or trap raccoons during an open season.

A property owner or the owner’s immediate family, employee, or tenant may kill or trap a raccoon on that property if it is damaging crops or domestic animals.

While I live considerably south of Ballard, there are hordes of the things. Please keep your cats and dogs inside if possible. An abandoned but good sized tom was nearly decapitated by them. (yes, he lives inside now). They will stand at the screen door and hiss, obviously expecting some goodies, with no fear at all. I can only guess that neighbors thinking the large creatures with impressive claws and teeth are cute, and have fed them and their exotic friends the opposums...and they never forget a meal. In turn, they find ways into attics causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, not counting the cost in the lives of pets and the damage done to landscaping.

It is illegal to kill them. I know because I was so frustrated about our raccoon problem that I did some research. Apparently coyote urine is the best deterrant. Swanson's used to carry it but doesn't anymore and the synthetic stuff apparently doesn't work as well. A can of oven cleaner at the ready sounds like a good plan!

Thank you robert - I was just wondering the same thing!

Doodle - Why'd you let that raccoon ride your bike in the first place? And where do raccoons work around here anyway? ;-)

Draw pistol and shoot attacker, in this case the raccoon, until it stops attacking.

Looks like the victim will be on the news. Check out the forum.

I think it is illegal to kill them

I found a product online called Shake-Away that's suppose to help keep them out of your yard. Doesn't help you when you're walking your dog, but it may help keep them away from your house.

Is it illegal to kill them?

I saw a big ass raccoon one day riding my bike to work, it wasent afraid and walked right towards me.... I now carry pepper spay with me, to scare off the crumb bums and the 'coons!!

See if your neighbors cover their garbage. See if you cover yours. That might explain the raccoon population.

Knife.

Get a rabies shot as soon as possible. After 3 days, its too late. There was a good story on NPR about a woman who didn't try to get the shot on the first day and spend the next 2 days trying to find a healthcare provider who was authorized to give it. Surprise surprise, a lot of places wont give it to you.

Racoons are the devil incarnate. I have read blogs on them and how to get rid of them, and it seems short of a shot gun or a dish of peanutbutter laced with antifreeze, they are impossible to deal with, There are racoons that come intio my yard that are as big as medium dogs. I have seen tme hiss and growl, and tney are not afraid of anyone or anythig..They have killed numerous cats in our neighborhood, and wrecked havoc in our yard by destroying our foutain, ripping our the lights and defacating in it. I love animals, but after hundreds of dollars spent in fixing my yard, I could hand feed them a little anifreeze any old day and never lose a
miutes sleep.

It may have been that the raccoon was startled by the commotion of the barking dogs, and when the owner bent down to assist his own dog, the raccoon perceived it as a threat. Or maybe the animal was eating and though the dogs were after its food? It's hard to say.

At 9pm, rabies is not my first thought, but a defense mechanism. It's not like raccoons are known as snuggly and friendly wildlife.

I am glad the dog and his owner are doing okay, and I just think people need to be careful. It's another good reason to keep dogs leashed on our sidewalks. :)

While it was obviously smart of the owner & dogs to get on antibiotics, it should also be noted that according to the Dept of Health, bats are the only animals in WA known to carry rabies, and the only two human cases in WA in the last 20 years were both from bats. While they are common carriers in other parts of the country, "rabid raccoons, skunks, foxes or coyotes have not been identified in Washington", and throughout the US the overwhelming majority of rabies cases are from bats.

In other words, Bob's imploration that we be "seriously concerned" about Ballard's raccoons seems overwrought. Just keep your pet's vaccinations up to dates, avoid wild animals, and get to a doctor if you get bit or scratched by one. Additional freaking out won't really do you any good.

I don't know what the situation here on the west coast is with raccoons but back east there was a real problem with rabies. It seems very un-coon-like that one would attack someone. This seems like classic rabies behavior. If that is the case, then we have a very serious problem waiting to blow up. Once a dog is bitten it can go on and on. We should be seriously concerned about the raccoon situation.

It was either defending cubs...or rabid. See a doctor.

Wow, you don't hear many stories of raccoons attacking humans. That raccoon must have been a mother - very territorial over her babies.

stay strapped out here in the streets girl. rabid racoons fo real. taser should do the trick.

Buy :(

By a can of oven cleaner.. one shot in the face should do the trick.

And.. that 'coon was old ballard.