Earlier today, my wife and her parents noticed a raccoon walking through our back yard. Later, the ‘coon came back, this time poking around under our deck. This time, I got a look at her (I’ll explain the gender assumption in a moment): she is huge, easily twice the size of our largest cat. I’d speculate that she’s 30 pounds, give or take. And she seemed to have absolutely no fear: I stepped out into the back yard, and she turned around as she walked towards our gate and looked at me before walking off. Our cat Rommel was out in the cat run, and fluffed up/hissed at the raccoon at this point, who completely ignored him.
An hour or so later, Irene’s dad saw the raccoon in our back yard again, carrying a baby (kit), and going underneath our deck. That is why we speculate the adult is a “she”: I’m guessing males don’t parent the babies much.
I’m a little worried about having a creature this large taking up residence in our back yard. Raccoons are smart, and our cats might look a bit too much like dinner. If the raccoon puts her mind to it, she might be able to get into the cat run, and from there into our house. I’ll be watching for signs of entry attempts, but I can’t be watching all the time.
I’ll also see if I can get a picture of her sometime. Irene was talking about putting out water for her: yeah, right, let’s just make her right at home…geez.