We have a cute little lady skunk (I think) that visits us
on a regular basis. I can identify her as she has a pronounced limp.
She's very calm and doesn't seem to care if we walk out the door
and right by her. It seems that skunks are non aggressive as long
as they are not startled; however, when they are threatened,
well . . . you know the rest.
This is Mama raccoon, a lactating female that has also decided
to adopt us, cleaning up the leftover catfood- or sometimes
having a little snack compliments of me. She is feeding a
few young ones so I make sure she has leftovers.
Again, she is non-aggressive to us, being very used to us.
If you're thinking rabies, in our area we have not had an instance
of rabies in raccoon in almost forever. We found this out
when our neighbor had to send in a specimen to the state when
their daughter was bitten by a baby (after unintentionally aggravating it).
Animals prone to rabies here are the fox and bats.
I knew something was about to happen when I saw little skunk walking
across the yard at the same time Mama popped up from under the
porch. Mama began eating while little skunk climbed the steps.
They see each other now and both want the food.
Neither of them is starving, you would think they would share
but no, the raccoon was claiming the food.
The little skunk was going to back off and tried to find
a way off the porch. She walked around the handrails to see
if she could climb down but it's raised and too far to the ground.
I tried to get Mama raccoon to leave but she is too used to me
and basically sat there, continuing to eat, even when I said Please!
She finally had to use the steps but when she came near the
raccoon, it growled and lunged forward.
That's all it took.
Little skunk flipped around and let Mama have it!
Mama raccoon went down the steps
and little skunk could now leave.
It didn't take long and Mama was peeking
from under the steps. She came right back up
the steps so she could finish the food.
Unfortunately for little skunk, the food
was quickly gone but I'm sure she will find
plenty to fill her up. The neighbors tell me
she is a regular visitor to their places too!
5 comments:
Hey, that's a violation of the Geneva Convention! Or, was it the Hague Convention. I forget.
I like raccoon's, skunks, squirrels and possums. They all come to eat at my porch, especially in the winter. The cats and dogs are used to them and pay them no heed.
People prattle on about rabies and raccoons here, but there hasn't been a case of rabies in this county as far back as I can remember and probably a lot longer. There's food for all here, and to spare.
Bet that porch has a certain "air" about it now!
I was just telling another blogger my raccoon and skunk stories. Guess this is an appropriate time to tell it again. We had a kitty door for some time when we lived near Los Angeles. We had possum, racoon and even a skunk come inside to get at the cat food in the kitchen. Hence, no more kitty door, but it took us some time to learn our lesson. I thought the skunk was another cat when I saw it in the kitchen so I tried to give it a shoo. Then I realized my error and retreated to the garage to wait it out. When the food was gone, so was the skunk. No spraying fortunately. - Margy
Little Skunk decided she liked roma tomatoes, at least that is what we think when we found the remains this morning! Tonight they get older eggs and left over green beans with a few carrot slices.
How neat that you were able to catch so much with your camera!
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