Re:The Intelligent Life of the City Raccoon
by CONTRARlAN on Friday April 24, 2015 @03:16AM
(#9431840)
I understand you better now, but I still see it a bit differently. People with chickens tend to think ahead about how to keep them from being eaten.
People with cats, on the other hand, tend to just kill the thing that's threatening their cat.
And rural settings have a more endless supply of threats. Yeah, you could go out every single night with your raccoon, or you could put up an electric fence.
Also, not one of the cases I've seen in the city sought permits to trap or kill. When you live somewhere where there are murders, who gives a crap about an animal?
I think we're both right, honestly, but I think the city situation is far more complicated-and far less raccoon-friendly–than you think. But I get where you're coming from.
For instance, rural raccoons are far more likely than city raccoons to have people in their territory that are keeping chickens for meat and/or eggs. This gives rural raccoons an opportunity to do more damage than their city cousins, and so also increases the chances they will draw a severe response.
Rural people also have more options for lethal force. Raccoons have been bothering your chickens? Go out the next night with your shotgun and blow the raccoons away. Try that in a city to deal with a raccoon trying to get into your recycle bin and you are likely to soon have far bigger problems than the raccoons.
Cities are also more likely to require permits or licenses to kill or trap an animal.