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November 8, 1990 • The Suffolk Times C1 i
Who Are These Masked Creatures . 9
By Paul Stoutenbura
Outside of Mr. Cottontail, the
friendly rabbit, Mr. Raccoon is
probably our most common animal on
the East End. Also, next to the rabbit,
it's the most common road -kill we see.
Probably there'd be less of these dead
raccoons and rabbits along our roadsides
if they were not so nocturnal but they
move about in the dark, mainly
foraging for food.
The rabbit can usually find a lush
spot of grass fairly close to its daytime
hiding spot but the raccoon, being an
opportunist feeder, wanders here and
there to find his meal. It can be any-
thing from insects, fish, berries in sea-
son, a farmer's newly ripened corn or
melons, small animals and birds (dead
or alive), or any kind of aquatic life.
The list goes on and on.
Of course, your unlatched garbage can
that some blame on roving dogs is the
job of the raccoon. Those humanlike
hands can operate and untie, unlock, un-
latch almost anything. The results:
garbage strewn all over, choice morsels
of chicken bones, fish heads, and over-
ripe melons are gone. It must be very
discouraging for those who raise crops
that are on the raccoon's diet.
Please Take Just One
Most wouldn't mind if this night
prowler would eat one, two or three ears
of corn but this fellow is a destroyer,
biting a bit from one ear of corn and
then moving on to the next so that in
one night he destroys half a crop with-
out actually eating his full of a single
one. So it is with ripe melons. A bite
into one and then he moves onto an-
other, destroying just the fruit you were
going to pick the next day.
He's a destroyer of chickens and other
animals, as I can testify. He's raided my
chicken coop and left the bodies of a
half -dozen chickens lying about. His
most dastardly deed was when he took a
mother hen and her clutch of almost -
hatched chicks right from under our bed-
room window. One of the bantam
chickens decided this would be the safest
place with us sleeping right inside and
our golden retriever at the foot of the
bed. Yet one day all was destroyed, the
eggs eaten and the hen gone.
Yet, one has to admit that raccoons
with their black - masked faces and ringed
tails are held in high esteem by many
and when they're young I have to admit
they're irresistible. So it was one day
when someone came to our house with
a box of young raccoons, their eyes just
open. Seems the mother had used a fire-
place as a substitute for a hollow tree to
raise her young. (A good reason for all
chimneys to be capped with wire.) The
problem here was when the weekenders
came out in the spring and wanted to
start a fire, they opened the damper and
out fell the young. The mother escaped
up the chimney.
Well, we at that time had young chil-
dren and so with much reluctance took
on the job of raising them. It was quite
an experience. One that had its good and
bad sides. The good side was to watch
their antics and individual characteristics
grow to the sheer joy of everyone. The
bad side was when you had to set them
free. Children's tears are hard to take but
we had to let them go out into their
world. All wandered off but one that
used to visit us occasionally, looking in
the window seemingly begging to be let
in. ............ ..
Focus on
Mature
Although young raccoons look cute
and lovable, when grown they are fierce
fighters if cornered and can inflict real
damage to the pursuer. Dogs can espe-
cially vouch for this and it is known
that some have actually been killed by
raccoons and others drowned by them.
Being excellent swimmers, they often
take to the water when dogs chase them.
The problem comes when the faster
swimmer, the dog, catches up to the
raccoon.
Because man has invaded the rac-
coon's territory and built homes in what
were once his woods and hunting
grounds and has killed all the raccoon's
predators, they now have no population
control and therefore overpopulate our
area. The average raccoon in the wild
would require up to 200 acres to live in,
They are very territorial and will drive
out other competing raccoons. Perhaps,
in our crowded conditions of today, that
is why at night you often hear terrible
screams and wild cries coming from the
dark. These calls sound as if someone
was being murdered but it's usually
only part of the fight and bluff that rac-
coons make, whether it be over territo-
rial rights, who gets whom for a mate
or lost young calling for their mother.
Like my cow out back or any other
outside animal, raccoons lose their win-
ter fur for a more suitable lighter coat in
the spring. Mating takes place in Febru-
ary and March. In about two months a
litter of two to seven is born. The aver-
age family is four. Then, eight to 10
weeks later the young travel with the
mother on their nightly foraging excur-
sions. Now the mother is doubly intent
on providing food and will go to almost
any extent to secure it for her young. It
is here that the clever lessons of life are
learned. It is here also that the young
are in most danger, particularly from
great horned owls that travel at night on
silent wings.
FAMILY OF RACCOONS —This flash picture of the Photo
at a garbage pail exemplifies the problems of overpopulation when there
are no predators to keep them in check.
Raccoons are found as far south as
southern Central America northward to
the border provinces of Canada and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific: mountains,
deserts, seacoast, deep forest, flat lands.
You name it, Mr. and Mrs. Raccoon
will be there.
The city. dweller's heard of the
raccoon probably only in reference to
Daniel Boone's hat or, if old enough, a
raccoon -skin coat that was popular in
the '20s and '30s. But to those who live
in suburbia or the rural parts of Long
Island the raccoon is no stranger. In
fact, my most recent telephone call was
from a lady sitting in her kitchen when
a raccoon came right in through her cat
door looking for a handout. Raccoons
are one part of our natural world that
seem to thrive on man's interference
with nature, and like the starling, I
think they're going to be around for a
long long time.
P.S. Raccoons, like many other
warm - blooded animals, cats and dogs in-
cluded, can carry rabies; so don't take
chances of being bitten. As yet we have
had little or no reports of rabies on our
East End but you ' can never take
chances.
Tirdwk6rls .
MAC yflun8 for flee `Birder„
North Road, Southold, 765 -5872
Open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Gifts • Binoculars • Books * Seed • Feeders • Houses
Fall Forum Series
Two Seminars on
Saving The Natural Resources
of the North Fork
if# November 11 "Potable Water"
9am -10am Marc McDonald - Professional Geologist
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December 9 "Guarding Our Natural Assets"
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Recycling Association
Seminar Location: First Presbyterian Church
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• No Admission Fee, Public Invited