MeekandMild
Member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Messages
- 1,877
Probably everybody here knows I hate feral cats. They kill birds, especially baby birds and one feral cat can kill 500 songbirds a year. They breed like rats, carry feline leukemia and several other diseases including one, toxoplasmosis, which causes birth defects in humans. Plus they come around and beat up my cat to get her food.
On the other hand coons don't seem to bother the cat even when they get into her food box and in the woods they usually concentrate on crawfish, frogs, mice and other ground critters.
I was surprised one day to catch a half grown coon in my feral cat trap. So I loaded him up in the pickup truck, trap and all and took him out to the lake to release. Every time he saw me he hissed at me and made as if to bite anything I got near the cage. Until we got to the lake that is.
Once we got there and I opened the cage door, using a stick so he couldn't bite me. It took some time as I was having to lever the little wires which wedge the door. He caught on and reached his little hands out to try to help me push down the pieces which were in the way. Then when the door finally sprung open he took one look at the open door and one look at me. Then he waited. So I said, "Go on, get out of here."
I swear he made eye contact and nodded his head at me, then he waved, almost a salute before he waddled out the door and disappeared into the underbrush.
In my estimation a coon is smarter and even wiser than a lot of the people I know.
On the other hand coons don't seem to bother the cat even when they get into her food box and in the woods they usually concentrate on crawfish, frogs, mice and other ground critters.
I was surprised one day to catch a half grown coon in my feral cat trap. So I loaded him up in the pickup truck, trap and all and took him out to the lake to release. Every time he saw me he hissed at me and made as if to bite anything I got near the cage. Until we got to the lake that is.
Once we got there and I opened the cage door, using a stick so he couldn't bite me. It took some time as I was having to lever the little wires which wedge the door. He caught on and reached his little hands out to try to help me push down the pieces which were in the way. Then when the door finally sprung open he took one look at the open door and one look at me. Then he waited. So I said, "Go on, get out of here."
I swear he made eye contact and nodded his head at me, then he waved, almost a salute before he waddled out the door and disappeared into the underbrush.
In my estimation a coon is smarter and even wiser than a lot of the people I know.