Masked Marauders: The recent skunk story reminds me of another story that took place here shortly after we had moved from the City. At that time our outbuildings were in much need of tender loving care. The former horse barn, which is now our office, had recently become the cat house for our two kittens, acquired to keep the rodent population at bay. Soon however, we noticed that the young cats would look in terror at the building and would not go near. We discovered an infestation of racoons that had become aggressive squatters. It was then that we acquired the live trap. And the more we set it, the more we caught – nine in all!
Racoons are not like skunks and could be easily transported in the back of our then still urban cars to distant and isolated locations and this is what we did… However, one occasion caused my heart to race. Now these live traps are rectangular in shape , just over 2 feet long and just short of a foot high and wide. They are made of a strong wire mesh and have a wire door at one end and a small door at the other end on top for dropping feed onto a tray beneath. This door is about 3 inches square and is locked with a small wire hook.
At the time I had an old manual transmission Hyundai Pony, a hatchback missing the cover between the trunk and the cabin. It was my trusty tractor and my pickup truck. I had caught what turned out to be the last of the nine marauders and set the trap in the hatch and drove down our lane to the pothole ridden concession road below. Shortly after heading onto the road I heard banging coming from the rear of the vehicle. I glanced over my shoulder, smugly knowing the banging was in vain. The banging persisted and there was a definite sense of heaving. I slowed down and looked in the rearview mirror… to my surprise a furry arm was sticking up through the small opening. I smiled, convinced that there was nothing to worry about. But, a doubting Thomas, I glanced back again. An arm and a nose. The car proceeded at a slow speed … an arm, a nose a head … I geared down further… The cage wiggled and the racoon wriggled. Two arms, a nose, a head, and a substantial portion of the body … I was sweating. Then terror! – The racoon was climbing over the back seat… By then the car was in first gear, the driver's door open and I stood dusty on the gravel road watching the car chug forward driverless and hiccupping to a desperate stop. The racoon paused, looked out the window, climbed onto the driver's seat and then out the door and scuttled past me contemptuously up the road back to our lane, up the lane and back to the horse barn. Fortunately no one was about to see my bewilderment and frustration.