We had the most beautiful weather last week, which is unusual for August in West Virginia. Usually at this point in the summer, the heat and humidity are unbearable, and I can be found sitting under a fan with a glass of iced tea and the air conditioner at a cool seventy-two. As luck would have it, it was seventy-four degrees, sunny, and breezy. I was sitting on my deck one evening reading a book, and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. When I looked up, there was a big groundhog sitting in the yard, eating apples that had fallen from the tree. He was looking at me like he wanted to know what I was doing there. I called for my husband to come and see, and he bolted under the deck. Not good, I thought.
If I haven’t mentioned it before, Pub is very territorial, and he would not be amused to find a twenty pound groundhog living under his deck. Annie is a bit dense, and she’d probably try to play with it and end up getting hurt or inadvertently hurting it.
After that initial run-in, I didn’t think much of it, but early in the morning the other day, the dogs spotted the groundhog going under the steps. Ever since, they have been in near hysterics (and driving me bonkers). The door in my office goes straight onto the deck, and they have been incessantly whining and jumping up on the door every day since.
Well this morning, I sat down to work on some projects, and they started with the whining at the door. I had had enough, so I decided to go out and have a look for myself. I went down the side steps, got down on the ground, and looked underneath the deck. What do you think was staring back at me? Nope, you’re wrong. It wasn’t our friendly neighborhood groundhog. It was a raccoon. So, not only do we have a groundhog that likes to hang out under there, but we have a couple of raccoons, too. One of them ran into the back when he saw me, but the other one just kind of sat there and looked at me like, “Yes? May I help you with something?” Here she is, in all her glory:
Initially, I wondered if I had seen a raccoon that first day and just thought it was a groundhog, but no, I was sure that I saw correctly the first time. I came back into my office and decided to try and salvage the rest of the morning. Within five minutes, the dogs went ballistic and jumped up on the door, barking. When I looked outside, I saw a groundhog scampering across the deck. Evidently, he went under the steps on one side, saw the raccoons, and thought, “crap, where did you come from?” So he came back out, ran across the deck and sat on the other steps for a minute before he ran over to my neighbor’s house to hang out there.
Now I’m stumped. I don’t know what to do. The raccoons are adorable and all, but they can carry rabies and distemper. The dogs are up to date on their vaccinations of course, but if my husband or I are scratched or bitten, we will have to get rabies shots. I’ll pass. Not only that, but there is no such thing as peaceful co-existence where Pub is concerned. He is not exactly a laid back dog. he certainly won’t be lying in the sun with a raccoon anytime soon. It just wouldn’t happen. And he and Annie are priority # 1.
I am trying to find a humane way to drive them out so that we can put lattice up around the steps to keep them out permanently. The fence is just about finished, so hopefully it won’t be a problem after that. I have read that playing loud music and shining lights on them will convince them to leave on their own, because they like dark, quiet places. I think I’ll give that a shot. If that doesn’t work, my neighbor has offered to take them to his step-father’s farm with catch and release traps. I would rather not go that route, though.
If you have any tips for humanely relocating the raccoons, I’d love to hear them!
