Raccoon ate my window!

krnie

Three years ago I forgot to close my back bedroom window when I went out for a walk. In the 25 minutes I was gone, a squirrel came in, ran into the kitchen, chewed open a can of walnuts, hid half of them in my bed (under the pillow and the sheets), and gnawed a large hole in my brand new blanket (so he could hide more nuts inside the hole). He must have ran out the window when he heard me coming back. I have never felt more murderous toward a squirrel.

brooklynpotter

how do you know it was a squirrel?

krnie

Either it was a squirrel or a mini Spider-Man on a nut rampage. I live on the 4th floor of a brownstone and my bedroom window is stuck so it only opens 4 inches high, nowhere near the fire escape. Only a squirrel could climb up there and get through the opening. I hope.

Now I'm going to make sure my windows are all closed.

opossumqueen

From this tale of a raccoon getting stuck...
http://sweathogliving.com/images/30.jpg

scarlett

Kosher Dave, this story made NY Magazine this week in the neighborhood news. I am sorry to report that NY Mag thinks you live in sunset park.

brooklynpotter

gah, i hate new york magazine. and they have shitty fact checkers, always

lo kee

Did this thing steal your bike?

drunken revival

Did you think about maybe closing the window?

raw

Kosherdave, where's my coon skin cap...the one you promised me with the tail?

kosherdave

Funny, the NY Post actually emailed and later called me to do an interview. I was really pathetically bad about getting back to the poor guy, so we never chatted. I didn't know it was newsworthy, just thought it was minorly blog worthy.

Also, the creature has not come back. I did buy one of those child window protectors though, which I figure I can install so if it ever happens again, the worst it could do is eat through my screen but it won't fit into my apt.

FYI, it cost $20 to get my screen re-done. So it wasn't so bad.

raw

kosherdave wrote: Funny, the NY Post actually emailed and later called me to do an interview. I was really pathetically bad about getting back to the poor guy, so we never chatted. I didn't know it was newsworthy, just thought it was minorly blog worthy.

Also, the creature has not come back. I did buy one of those child window protectors though, which I figure I can install so if it ever happens again, the worst it could do is eat through my screen but it won't fit into my apt.

FYI, it cost $20 to get my screen re-done. So it wasn't so bad.

Why read the New York Post when you can instantly find more interesting and accurate information on http://www.brooklynian.com/ than you can in any newspaper? Why read someone's messages interpreted by a reporter when you can read unedited messages directly from the horse's mouth?

nypdbagpiper

Subject: Danger....Raccoons and domestic pets....

Folks, all joking aside a raccoon, rabid or not, can be deadly and they are very smart creatures. We had an outdoor cat who constantly argued with a raccoon until the raccoon finally had enough and killed her, quite easily. Raccoons become aggressive between April and June every year as they go into a rut-like stage. This animal ripped the face off the poor cat, and one time the raccoon tried to do the same to my dog.

I am not saying trap, kill and remove every raccoon you see, but if they are getting to pushy with trying to enter your home, it may be time to have them removed or you may lose a pet or even get injured yourself. Raccoons occupy a useful level of the food chain in that they eat pests and dispose of carrion quite nicely, but they should never be human-fed or not taken seriously. Secure your garbage pails, or do what we did and get a garbage disposal for perishables, this eliminates a food source in your garbage cans.

Be careful, yet respectful of nature.

Ken.

interracialmix

Very sorry to hear about your cat, but know that getting them removed is not easy. The city will not send somebody to do it unless the raccoon is rabid.

My cats are not allowed outside without me chaperoning them very carefully as I do have raccoons that come down from the roof into my yard - usually only at night, but I have seen them in the daytime with their babies as well.

jeffrey

Flexichick wrote: Very sorry to hear about your cat, but know that getting them removed is not easy. The city will not send somebody to do it unless the raccoon is rabid.

There was one wandering around the sidewalk during the daytime (not a good sign) on the block behind me last year.

I called 311, they told me to call Animal Services. Animal Services said they do not do raccoon removals in NYC, there are simply to many calls for this and that it's wildlife anyway.

They recommended we pay a private company to do this.

By that point the raccoon had wandered off and I did not see it again. Some time later, either the city or the homeowner had removed the ailing tree from the sidewalk.

And now it's just a stump. Hm..maybe it wasn't a raccoon after all.

mad_lucky

A raccoon once ate its way into my kitchen thru the window. He jumped on my kitchen table stole a bread stick and attempted to jump back out of the window but since the bread stick was long he couldn't get out with it in it's mouth so the raccoon bit the bread stick in half and worked his way back out of the window and down my fire-escape.

independent mind

Do you think the raccoon may have had (albeit inappropriate) feelings for your cat?

MOD

Years later....

I scared away some racoons last night. This is the first time I've personally seen them in the area. They don't scare easily! Freakin badasses just stared at me. They're cute, except for the whole rabies and plague and stuff.

veets

Mamacita

You resurrected a 4 year old thread with the best photo ever.

Stay safe and away from these creatures.

ribbons

I will play. This was taken upstate and not in Brooklyn. Raccoon was stalking my cabin when I was camping.