south slopies - racoon watch

anonymous

a quick heads up for those in the south slope. walking home from the subway last night at 8:00pm, i came across a big racoon on 16th street between 8th ave and ppw. the racoon seemed a bit off, and gave me the willies. kinda far from the park or the cemetary. i'd hate to come upon it by surprise. luckily, i had time to cross the street and stay out of rockey's way...

yavel

That does seem a little far from from the park or cemetery. They're attracted by people's garbage cans so that might be why it was wandering around there.

steve

Actually, someone mentioned to me they had a racoon in their backyard, 5th st and 7th ave

anonymous

One wandered on my fire escape the other week because I had put cat food out there.

Im not logged in right now, but you can do a search for "racoon" to find my earlier posts - there was a big discussion about the racoon problem.

anonymous

20th and 5th here. We are lousy with them. They fight with the feral outdoor kitties too. It worries me. Anyone know a solution? Humane trapping and then releasing where?

anonymous

Subject: raccoons

raccoons are a fact of life all over the city. They are in all backyards. It is a good idea not to leave any food or garbage out. other than that there are no other precautions to take. it is inhumane to remove them from their environment even if they are humanely trapped. When they are dropped off elsewhere they do not survive. A lot of these pest removal companies, humanely"trap" them and then they let them die.

brooklynpotter

Subject: Re: raccoons

Anonymous wrote: raccoons are a fact of life all over the city. They are in all backyards. It is a good idea not to leave any food or garbage out. other than that there are no other precautions to take. it is inhumane to remove them from their environment even if they are humanely trapped. When they are dropped off elsewhere they do not survive. A lot of these pest removal companies, humanely"trap" them and then they let them die.

actually, it's illegal for any "trappers" to do anything with trapped raccoons other than hand them over to the city. that's the law. and, sadly, they will be euthanized.

anonymous

Subject: Backyard raccoons

On 10 th Street between 6th and 7th Ave, raccoons have raided back yard ponds and eaten all the goldfish. I guesh they like sushi!

anonymous

Subject: Re: raccoons

brooklynpotter wrote: [quote=Anonymous]raccoons are a fact of life all over the city. They are in all backyards. It is a good idea not to leave any food or garbage out. other than that there are no other precautions to take. it is inhumane to remove them from their environment even if they are humanely trapped. When they are dropped off elsewhere they do not survive. A lot of these pest removal companies, humanely"trap" them and then they let them die.

actually, it's illegal for any "trappers" to do anything with trapped raccoons other than hand them over to the city. that's the law. and, sadly, they will be euthanized.

I know we have been down this road before on another thread, but if a raccoon is destroying/bothering you or your property, NYS law states you can legally kill it. How? I don't know because you cannot fire a gun in the city. There is a list of animals that you are allowed to kill along with raccoons which includes mice, rats, Opposum?? skunk, and ?? (too lazy to look up the law). I am not advocating this, I am just stating that you are actually permitted to kill these animals if they are a nuisance. (I would say eating your trash is not really a nuisance since you can just keep it covered).

Anyway the state did come and trap our aggressive racoon which I thought died (apparently there were many complaints about its aberrant behavior), but according to my councilperson, it was destroyed and was sent to be tested for rabies. Don't know what the results were.

shishkab

Subject: Re: raccoons

kensingtonmom wrote:
Anyway the state did come and trap our aggressive racoon which I thought died (apparently there were many complaints about its aberrant behavior), but according to my councilperson, it was destroyed and was sent to be tested for rabies. Don't know what the results were.

just an FYI: as of 10/31, there have been no reports of rabies in Brooklyn. if they nabbed your problem critter in october, chances are the results were negative.

lostingreenwoodhts

Just to cap off the "reality" of the above posts (and more to come), "they" are everywhere regardless of your proximity to the Park(s) Green-Wood or the like.

While I have 400+ acres across the street from me in Green-Wood, since I have been in the 'hood, our local "boys/girls in fur from the 'hood" have roosted in a neighbors 100+ yr old ginko tree, NOT in Green-Wood.

Get used to them folks, they be family! Like it or not.

PS. Green-Wood is trapping, which is helping, but they nor PP are the issue. Your garbage, and far worse, "lil old lady feeding the cats" are the bigger prob.

Cute as the Dickens, though I have played with many of the babies, the tried to scare them off :evil:

anonymous

Subject: Raccoons in Fort Greene

The other night I woke up at about 3 AM and looked out the window. I saw a raccoon walking down South Portland Avenue!

lostingreenwoodhts

Well, they only like tony nabes

anonymous

Subject: Racoons/Fleas

I work in Brighton Beach on Neptune Avenue, in July we had 3 racoons captured in the drop ceiling. They knocked out computer systems etc. They left behind fleas. My office has been at another site since 8/14/06. The fleas are hopefully irradicated as of the monday after Thanksgiving. We then can move back home (to our office). This has been a horror show.

anonymous

My, my, those pesky racoons. Fighting feral cats, destroying offices, stalking wary pedestrians in the streets. Life in Brooklyn as you've known it will never be quite the same. Be afraid, be very afraid.

cabaki

This raccoon post has made the front page of Gothamist!!

http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/11/20/extra_extra_341.php

lostingreenwoodhts

This thread did more than the Gothamist...it inspired this week's article in the Brooklyn Papers...

http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_46/29_46bandits.html

Dana did a nice piece...

anonymous

How they got here?

http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_46/29_46varmints.html

laura

lostingreenwoodhts wrote: http://www.brooklynpapers.com/html/issues/_vol29/29_46/29_46bandits.html

"Dozens of blocks away from Green-Wood Heights, in Carroll Gardens, the rodents have been provoking emotional responses."

Um, raccoons aren't rodents ...

lostingreenwoodhts

wiki-you know...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raccoon

laura

I'd never heard of anyone thinking raccoons were rodents - ? :-s

And, obviously, it's Greenwood Heights, not Green-Wood (like the cemetery) ... :roll:

lostingreenwoodhts

yes, we no-likee the dash. Thats for the cemetenarians...

At least Dana @ Brooklyn Papers tried to report something off this thread, all criticism aside

anonymous

They are Raccoons for Petes sake...We have had them in Windsor Terrace for years. I've come home late at night more than once to find one sitting on my porch...Know what I did??? I walked around it... LIVE & LET LIVE PEOPLE...They have inhabited Brooklyn for much longer than most of us & to date I have yet to hear of them attacking, but I have heard of plenty of them being trapped, tranqualized & euthanized for just being in a tree.

laura

When I lived in Michigan I had some living in my wall for a while (I used to also have to occasionally step around possums in front of my doorway) ... my brother in California had a whole family of raccoons living in a part of his house in Berkeley for a while.

anonymous

Does Raccoon poop look similar to dog poop??? I've been finding poop in the backyard but there's no way that a dog could have scaled the wall. And the poop is way too big to be from a cat.

lostingreenwoodhts

yep, and normally abound with last nite's dinner...yucky!

anonymous

There was a segment on BBC News this morning about the rabies outbreak among Raccoons on Staten Island and how the dept. of health has been pretty much ignoring it. Recently a woman(?) was bit by a rabid kitten who had been bitten by a rabid raccoon.

lostingreenwoodhts

Don't believe the hype!

shishkab

lostingreenwoodhts wrote: Don't believe the hype!

Not so fast, Lost...

There have been three cases of rabies-infected kittens in Staten Island in 2006, the last two (July and November) resulting in people getting bitten. In both cases, the DOH acted immediately and all persons (and one family dog) exposed to these animals were treated prophylactically for the disease. There hasn't been a human case of rabies in NYC in about 50 years, thank god.

On a related, and somewhat disheartening note for those of us in the veterinary community: Staten Island had only one case of rabies-positive wildlife (a raccoon) since 1997. All of that changed in March of 2006. Besides those 3 kittens, 25 other animals (almost all of which were raccoons) tested positive. Somehow rabies is beginning to creep through the wildlife in SI. This doesn't bode well for pets (cats come to mind) that go outside on a regular basis at night.

With that said, and I cannot stress this enough, THERE ARE NO CASES OF RABIES IN BROOKLYN! However, folks should play it safe anyway and stay away from wildlife (don't play with, feed, or otherwise encourage Brooklyn raccoons, people!!!) and make certain their pets' rabies vaccinations are current. And if you know people who live in Staten Island and have indoor/outdoor or outdoor-only cats, or dogs that sleep outside, do everyone in their community a favor and STRONGLY encourage them to keep their pets INSIDE. Better an angry kitty than a dead one, and better an angry kitty than a dead one who also brings potential death to you!!

:x

anonymous

I live on the block enclosed by 6th and 7th aves, and 19th and 20th st and my old Italian neighbor swears that about 15 of them live back there. I asked if he thought maybe they came from the cemetery, but he said no, they live in all the yards. I don't see how but...

Anyway, I'm not very squeamish about critters of any size, but I spent enough time on my small lawn to get pissed off when they crap on it and dig holes in it (my research says grubs). I bought a sling shot and some BBs.

But I haven't seen them since the summer. Don't they hibernate?

anonymous

If I recall college biology (18 years ago) correctly, raccoons are related to bears. now are you scared? (I'm not, but I thought I'd throw that out there.) As we plot the sightings, add 10th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues.