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Yesterday I was up early, looked out a back window and I saw a giant racoon making its way across our backyard. The thing was huge and looked bigger than our 35 pound dog. I went to another window to watch where it was going and it climbed up the front of the boat trailer and squeezed itself under the cover!
After breakfast I went out to uncover the boat armed with a broom stick in hand. As I carefully peeled back the cover the destruction was terrible. There was stuffing from seats and foam insulation spread everywhere. The racoon eventually popped its head out from an area next to the engine and I grabbed the water hose and gave it a blast which got it scrambling out of the boat to crash onto the ground and it took off running.
The boat is a 1998 Stingray that I bought in 02 and have taken good care of since then. I was really proud of the condition of this boat and people were really surprised that it was so old. I counted 15 padded surfaces in the boat and 14 are scratched, chewed and torn up plus the carpet is chewed but those spots are mostly out of site. The coon even got into the stereo wiring and chewed that up. The engine, cables and wires look to be intact.
Now I am faced with a dilemma. Do I sell the boat cheap as is or do I fix the seats which will probably cost more than the boat is worth?
Oh no! They're cute as all get out and the little critters with their busy hands can really do a lot of damage.
Sorry to hear about your boat and hope you decide on a solution that satisfies you.
DH's work Expedition was chewed all to heck by a family of chipmunks while parked in the City Garage.
My sad tale left me sitting by the deck sobbing. I have a small pond there which I had stocked with small koi and leopard frogs. For a couple of seasons I had tamed the little creatures to come and eat out of my hand so they were nearly like pets.
We live above a nature preserve and one night Mr. Racoon came and did some fishing and had a couple of servings of frog legs leaving the Jeffrey Dahmer-ed remains strewn about for me to find. It was ghastly.
DH started putting out live traps and after a season of relocating the inquisitive and destructive animals they avoided us for years. I've told him it's nearly as cruel as shooting them. They are introduced to an unfamiliar environment and can cause lots of ecological problems. But we haven't come up with any other humane solutions.
Recently they're coming back. DH gets up in the night and looks out the bathroom window. If he sees a furry prowler he says he hisses out the window and it skedaddles. LOL. Bet the cat thinks he's nuts. (Or her hero.)
As long as we're learning in that direction I'll tell a story from my childhood that a lot of people have trouble believing. The town I grew up in was so small that we all could walk no more than fifteen minutes and find ourselves in a cornfield no matter which direction we walked.
Several people saved abandoned raccoon young and kept them as pets.
The house across the alley from me owned a collie and also had one of these young raccoons living with them. The raccoon took a liking to the collie and developed the habit of riding on its back just like a little jockey it's hands clutching the "mane" on each side of the collie's neck.
We kids played everywhere in town and all the dawgs ran loose. I remember that no matter where I was on any given day it wasn't uncommon to see the collie and the raccoon go by on their daily jaunts.
They are! I do animal rescue and am fortunate enough to have a couple close by that do federal licensed wild life rehab. One of their non release raccoons had a "crush" on me (I loved him, so darn cute and sweet) and would hold my hand. If you ever felt their paws... so soft, reminds me of kitten pads/paws!
Most would not agree but opossums are even sweeter. And they don't bite!
They are cute creatures but the damage they can do is terrible.
I looked inside the boat yesterday and it is depressing. It is really bad when something that you have taken care of for years is trashed.
I have been doing a bit of research into replacing the seats and it is pricey plus they are generic and I don't know what to do about the side panels. The original seats are so neat with the 2 tone accents and Stingray stitched right into them.
Yeah. It's a pity. Their cuteness doesn't compensate for how much damage they can do. Do you know anyone who can sew? Sometimes you can do your own upholstery if you have the basic skills. Depending on seat design coverings can be put on with a staple gun, too.
Before our town issued raccoon-proof garbage cans we'd wake each morning to an alley strewn with garbage. And one night we came home to find a big and fierce momma with her two young in the yard. She sent them up a tree but stayed on the ground and no way was I going to walk past that girl to get to the house.
I had two different cats who suffered huge haunch bites that I suspect were from running away from raccoons and both times they nearly died.
It's all best if they and society remain separated.
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