'Coons. $#@#%&*! Now it's MY turn! @(&$@&#%!!

[Julles]

Went outside this morning.  The koi pond is fine.

But the turtle pond, the one that's shallow and has sloping sides, that has a few gold fish I've had a looong time that are pretty big, including a wonderful white one, and some cull koi... There were two dead fish floating on top of the water.  And on the bank, glittering scales and even a chunk of red flesh.  Gross!  So sad.  I didn't see ANY fish in the pond... maybe the remaining ones are spooked and hiding; maybe they are all gone. 

The stupid bandit didn't even bother to eat everything he killed.  One of the goldfish had it's mouth and a tiny bit of the head chewed off, but that's it.  The other one, it was hardly mangled at all... just enough to kill it. 

The koi could have lived... I tried to give them away on FreeCycle.com, but the people who said they wanted them never showed up.  That's why they were still in my tiny, overcrowded pond.  Shame.

I'm so pi$$ed!  I wish the danged 'coons and cats would STAY OUT OF MY YARD! 

Just the other morning, not yet daylight, I saw a raccoon hobbling on down the sidewalk, it's back all arched up like they do, like it owned the block.

I have a borrowed live trap, and it's being set up TODAY. 

[Rocmon]

I feel your pain.

When my older GF get big enough they just disappear, usually the prettiest ones first. Electric wires (ugly) don't seem to keep them away all the time. They also said I'm not allowed to grow lotus. Three pots last spring, second year of robust growth shredded and eaten. Then a month or so ago they finished off my last lotus pot. My wife won't let me fertilize with systemic rose food, I see it as end of problem...

[El Jefe]

I am telling you, there is something almost cathartic about the pop the splat...the ..Jump and run    just knowing that his awful deed did not go unpunished AND if they come back you can color code them for identification.
  

http://www.paintballguns.net/

[perplexed ponder]

Does systemic rose food kill raccoons?

[LeeAnne151]

I have had complete relief from raccoons trashing my main pond since putting up an electric fence. DH used copper tubing instead of wire and bamboo poles instead of plastic and it looks much nicer. The only time we've had a problem has been if we forgot to turn it back on after doing work in the pond.

The small ponds that aren't protected are routinely trashed though.

raccoons and other animals visiting are part of the price of ponding.

[barb]

Wait a minute, I thought it was the cat you just killed that was killing your fish?  I'm confused. 

[Julles]

You know, I have to admit, from reading here, it does sound like the fish-kill was the work of a 'coon, rather than a cat. 

But that black cat DOES come into the yard regularly, poops and pees, and it does hang around my pond.  Even if it's not the killer, it doesn't belong in my yard.  A pet peeve of mine, other people's cats (or stray cats) in my yard.

I didn't kill the cat, BTW.  It went off with Animal Control.  Which, yes, I admit, is about the same thing,     but maybe it will have a few days, and will be adopted - IF, that is, anyone wants a wild cat. 

Unfortunately, this part of the city is quite over run with stray cats, and they're quite a nuisance. 

[Mikey]

The only place where I like seeing stray cats is down at the beach where the jetties are located.  Those cats do a number on the rats.....  I just wish people wouldn't feed the darn things.  Let them eat rats!  Many of the cats have been caught and sterilized.

[Rocmon]

Yes systemic rose food is quite hazardous. Read the label carefully. Many pets, i.e. dogs walk in a rose bed that has been "fertilized" and end up at the vet. Not all survive despite intervention. Yes this is from simply walking on it. Being that it is systemic, using it on lotus would make eating them a deadly proposition—solving any bad coon problems... but then it will most likely travel down the food chain.