A worried citizen files a 311 complaint about some toonie raccoons in Charlestown.
Are racoons in city normal?? Came to take dog out and came across 5 raccoons. I think I scared them and they hid in tree before going into brush on nanny goat hill.
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Teen Raccoon Freedom Squad Season!
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:01am
Mama raccoons chase off their broods at high summer, and the darling youngsters stick together for a while. It makes sense in terms of survival and security.
They forage together, hang out together, and get into trouble together. We had a squad one year that would show up at our rear sliding door around 9:30 each night for a couple of weeks. Five of them. No, I wasn't feeding them - they turned up for the pure entertainment value of watching my cat go ballistic.
When my son went to UMass, I noted that freshmen tend to hang out in their hometown buddy groups during the first semester or year. I compared this to the late summer raccoon squads and he said "Yep - we wander the night with familiar faces, looking for garbage to eat".
Yes.
By jmeltzer
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:03am
Next question?
I have to admit
By Waquiot
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 4:02pm
I’ve been seeing those pests on some recent runs in Hyde Park, and it gave me pause. Then I remembered that I’ve seen then in Roslindale, but not in recent years.
I class raccoons as urban wildlife, like skunks.
Note- the last word was originally misspelled (see below)
Raccoons were here before us
By jmeltzer
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 12:21pm
and they will be here after us.
Yep. Saw a large raccoon at
By anon
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 12:31pm
Yep. Saw a large raccoon at Mass. Ave. and Beacon a while back -- was surprised, but not alarmed. Wildlife exists in the city: calm down 311'ers.
I think you're onto something
By Milwaukee Mike
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:06pm
I think you're onto something there. "Stunks" is by far a better label for that particular animal.
You don’t mess with stunks
By Waquiot
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 4:04pm
After they spray you, they go after your family.
I would normally leave my error up there as a mark of shame, but since the stinky little critters are kind of cute, I corrected it.
Friend in Southie just had to
By Muerl
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 12:31pm
Friend in Southie just had to buy some Coyote Urine to scare them away from aparently living in his closet.
So ... yes?
I don't know if I have ever saw them in Boston thought. Bunnies, Squirrels, Skunks, Turkeys, Rats, I have though. I always expected the trash pandas to be around though.
I saw a woodchuck in Newton though which surprised me.
Also, some mating bunnies, which lead to conversation with a 6 year old:
kid - What are they doing daddy?
me - Oh, they are mating.
kid - So, making baby bunnies?
me - Yes
kid - YEA!! More Bunnies!
My favorite wildlife sighting to date
By Essteess
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 5:29pm
A number of years ago -- like maybe a decade or more -- in the space of several weeks I twice saw a fox in my west-of-Boston neighborhood, and one of those times he was heading through our yard. Dunno if it was the same one both occasions, but he seemed very much at home, just trotting along as if this was a perfectly natural thing to do (I'm sure he wouldn't have minded the quack-quack-quack and the legs all dangling down-o, either). His red coat in the morning sunlight looked gorgeous.
Definitely in Boston proper
By Don't Panic
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 11:31pm
I had one frightened raccoon (No idea what frightened it) run at me late one night in Mission Park near Brigham and Women's Hospital. All i could see was that masked torpedo speeding toward me. When it noticed me it veered off. They can move a lot faster than you'd think just from watching nature documentaries. I've also seen them in Grove Hall and Mattapan.
What kind of bubble did this person
By anon
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:04pm
Grow up in? And urban raccoons are generally not afraid or intimidated by humans. I'm a guy, am tall, deep voice, all the things that scare other animals; I've never been able to scare away raccoons or possums. Maybe they were freightened by the dog.
Lady here. Not afraid of
By anon
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 5:16pm
Lady here. Not afraid of urban raccoons, but if I ever encountered an opossum I would run and and scream hysterically lol! They are fierce looking! Appreciate they help control the tick population of course.
City Raccoon
By anon
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:07pm
A raccoon somehow got onto my second floor porch in East Boston one afternoon and refused to leave. It just lied there. It looked at me like "what are YOU looking at?". don't know f it was sick or what. I called a few city departments but everybody refused to remove a live (or dead for that matter) animal from private property. It must have left sometime during the night because it was gone the next morning.
When I first moved in to my
By anon
Fri, 07/24/2020 - 2:31pm
When I first moved in to my place in Eastie the front chimney was crumbling and uncapped. I never saw the buggers but I could tell from the chittering that it was a popular raccoon hangout. For months I kept a raccoon-banging stick by the nightstand to pound on the ceiling like an ornery neighbor.
Then we opened up the basement and took down another chimney and the possum climbed up to my dining room... I was cool with the raccoons after that.
Yes. They are as normal as...
By Lee
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:22pm
.... squirrels and sparrows. Live and let live.
They are as normal as
By Milwaukee Mike
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:42pm
Normal?! The squirrels that invaded our old Somerville attic definitely showed signs of several serious behavioral disorders. Buncha deviants, those guys.
Giant Squirrel Nuts!
By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 3:37pm
We have one that has the nuts to rip a hole in a window screen, invade the kitchen, and depart with the last of our bagels!
This is the same squirrel that seems to have pissed off the Bluejay Clan. HE also thinks it is fun to taunt leashed dogs.
We call him "SL", because he's on everyone's shitlist. Most aggro and unafraid squirrel that I have seen in my life.
You must be not used to
By anon
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 1:27pm
You must be not used to living here. Raccoons are all over the place. They have adapted to being able to live anywhere, practically. As long as people litter and dumpsters provide edibles, they will stay.
Sweet Nanny Goat
By The Duke
Thu, 07/23/2020 - 7:37pm
As my Jamaican Grandma would say:
"Wah sweet to Nanny Goat ago run him belly."
aka
"Things that seem fine to you now can hurt you later."
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