Glowing Eyes in the Coop!

After my recent round with my own dogs dispatching a rabid raccoon outside my chicken coop, and then having to get rabies shots myself because I checked my dogs for wounds right after, we are a little more aware of predators and their problems around here.

Last night I sent my oldest, who is 14, out to shut the chickens up for the night. I was feeling bad, lying on the couch after one of my rabies boosters. So far, they seem to make me achy and twitchy, and then clean out my bowels the following day.

Usually it takes my son a little time to do this. He'll be out there pulling one or another bird down for a snuggle while they are all calm and sleepy. Sleepy chickens are amazingly adorable and snuggly. But this time he comes back in rather too quickly.

He looks like he's seen a ghost. "I see eyes! In the coop!"

Ken and I spring into action. "Gloves, you need gloves!" I tell my husband. (previous lesson learned: don't confront wildlife unprotected.)

We slip on our coats, shoes, and headlamps, and he grabs the super Mag light. The kids grab the dogs to keep them from joining the fray.

On the porch, I grab a hoe (long handle, better for pinning the critter, right?) and hubby grabs a pickaxe.

With the kids and dogs safely inside, we head around the house to the coop.

"I don't see it," he says, shining the Mag light carefully around outside the coop.

I shine my head lamp through the hardware cloth wall, toward the food trough. "I see it! I see eyes!" I exclaim. "It's by the food trough!"

Two red reflections had lit up in the beam of our combined lights. The orbs are wide enough apart to be a medium-sized predator, and both forward-facing - definitely a predator. I crept closer so I had a clearer line of sight, and aimed my light again.

The two glowing orbs lit up again.

And so does the orange head.

And the orange nose.

And the orange triangle ears.

Hey... I know that orange head.......

"WILLOW!!!!" I burst out laughing, laughing at the hilarity of us going carefully and bravely into battle, and at the relief that our dangerous predator in the coop was none other than our needy adorable kitty, Willow, most likely hunting mice by the chicken trough. This is something she has not been seen doing before this!

Still laughing, I head over to the window where the kids are watching safely from inside the house, and reveal the secret of our Dangerous Invader.

Apparently brave Willow had placed herself on After Hours Rodent Duty, and we interrupted her in her vigilance. Well, I'm glad to see at least one of the cats has joined Cocoa the dog and myself in the battle again those wee chicken-feed thieves.

And super-glad it wasn't an actual dangerous invader.

We congratulated our son on making the right choice of coming for backup.

But afterwards, we're still laughing about it.

Freakin' Raccoon

"Well that was exciting," my son says to me.
"You have no idea," I reply.

Raccoon

It's a cold Friday here today - we're having one of those peculiar North Carolina winters where it's getting well below freezing here in central NC. Right now it's around 3 in the afternoon, and it's only about 24°F degrees out there.

Today around 2:30 Cocoa was barking. And barking. That's unusual. She usually would rather be in here with me. Then the chickens started clucking loud. I went outside to take a look.

Inside the fence, right behind the chicken coop, Cocoa had a raccoon treed about 20-25 feet up in a pine tree. Oh crap.

Niko, 100 pounds of aging Newfoundland mutt, had come outside with me, and immediately joined up barking with Cocoa, focused on her target.

I was torn. I wanted it to leave, but if it did, I knew it would be back. I was afraid of the imminent fight between the raccoon and my dogs. "Please die quickly," I pleaded to it. A raccoon can eat chickens. I've heard it will start eating them before they're dead. It can also eat cats.

I realized I was unarmed, and ran around the chicken coop. I wanted a solid 2 x 4 in my hands.

By the time I had a board in my hands, the raccoon had fallen out of the tree and Cocoa had it by the neck and Niko by the back end, both of them furiously flipping figure eights with their heads. In a few more seconds it was dead.

What you're not reading here is the surging feelings of panic, empathy, fear, the shouting, and when I fell down and hit my mouth.

The next twenty minutes were spent trying to get the thing away from Cocoa without touching it, and flip it over the fence. I didn't want them to tear into it.  Every time I would get it away from her and lift it on the board, she'd leap up and grab it back down. We tracked all the way across the back yard like this. I finally got it near the far side of the fence, and having to grab it by the foot to get the carcass over the fence.

Grateful for social media, I realized Animal Control needed to be called. They came and removed the carcass. The dogs are current on their shots.

The next day, Animal Control decided it was indeed necessary for the dogs to get boosters for their rabies shots, but they didn't think the raccoon needed to be tested. Monday I toted 2 dogs and 2 cats in to the vet.

The Aftermath

The raccoon tested positive for rabies.

After talking to the nurse at the Health Department (part of the animal handling procedure) we came to the conclusion that I did have a slim chance of being at risk after this encounter. Her main points of concern were that a) I touched the animal, and b) I checked my dogs immediately for wounds after the event, putting me at risk for contact with rabid saliva.

So I had to get the shots series as well. How wonderful.

My youngest son kept me company while I waited for 4 hours in the Emergency Room Friday night. I got a shot in my arm, and 5 in my rump for a total of 14cc's of liquid in all. The shots left a horrid taste in my mouth, made me feel kinda flu-achy, and the following day my bowels cleared out. Needless to say I also felt like crud, and was pretty crabby. The following night I couldn't sleep well. My body was very twitchy and restless, to the point of waking me up, and I could not make my body stay relaxed.

I went back the following Monday for the next shot - only one in the opposite arm this time! Followed by more achiness, feeling crabby, and bowel-clearing, but not nearly as much twitchiness. And still that awful taste in my mouth.

I have 2 more to go.

Moral of the Story

Keep your dogs up to date on their shots. Don't touch the carcass without gloves. And don't check your animals for wounds afterwards without wearing gloves.