Grandma Raccoon Saves the Day

The garbage was starting to smell, so I decided to empty it.  Except when I opened the garbage can outside, there was a visitor camped out inside.  Yup, another raccoon.

Background:  Two summers ago, a raccoon got stuck inside our garbage can.  Hubster put a rock on top of it so it wouldn't escape.  I called Animal Control but since the Dog Warden was on vacation, I was told to call the town police department.  The officer I spoke to told me to tip the garbage can over and let the raccoon out myself.  I explained that, being six months pregnant and having a four-year-old and two-year-old in the house, I didn't think that was the best idea.  So an officer was dispatched to our house with a snare to retrieve the offending raccoon.  When he tipped the garbage can over in our backyard, the animal wouldn't budge.  When he poked it with the snare, it growled.  So he managed to get the raccoon out of the garbage can and then SHOT IT.  In my backyard.  In the middle of the afternoon.

So once again, I call Animal Control.  Since it's 6:30pm, they're not there.  I call the police department next.  The officer tells me that the Dog Warden will return at 7pm but he will take my contact information and pass along the message.

I get a call shortly after 7pm, and AC suggests that I tip the garbage can over myself and let the animal out.  Once again, I explain that I have three small children at home and I don't think that's the best idea.  So he tells me that someone will be at my house shortly.

Maybe ten minutes later I get another call from AC.  I am told that a volunteer, a "nice older lady" who rehabilitates animals will be over to get the raccoon out of my garbage can.  I joke that he's trying to make me feel badly that I won't do it myself.  He laughs, says nothing to refute my statement, and we hang up.

At 7:30 this very nice, seventy-ish year old woman pulls into my driveway.  She gets the garbage can and rolls it across the street (the lots across the street are undeveloped).  She tips the can over, but the little critter won't budge.  Again.  She finds a hoe (the community garden is also across the street) and nudges the raccoon out of the can and the kids and I watch it scamper off.  The woman tells me that it was a baby, terrified to move.  I thank her for her time as Hubster arrives home from work.

So yeah, Grandma Raccoon saved the day.