Raccoons

A detailed Summary of Raccoons

In the spring of 1991 our flock of some 70-odd sheep, living on the 100-acre island that I grew up, on was massacred. Luckily all the sheep weren't wiped out all at once. It was after the first couple victims were discovered and investigated that we suspected some type of carnivorous predator (although to this day its identity remains a mystery.) After we got more of an idea of what we were dealing with we set clamp-style bear traps baited with sardines throughout the wooded northern end of York Island. All we trapped were raccoons, and because their hind quarters were completely mangled by the traps, they had to be shot. This was no problem until one morning my father and I came to the first trap, which held a fat raccoon. Dad cycled a round into his 30-30 rifle and quickly dispatched the critter. As it rolled over onto its back we could see by her swollen teats that she was a mother. The knowledge that her babies would die disturbed us and we wanted to help them. Dad asked the local coon hunter where we should look, and he suggested the di

lapidated houses, by the dock. Armed with a hammer and a crowbar we entered the buildings and made a thorough sweep of the downstairs and its many cracks and crevices. Finding nothing we climbed the decrepit staircase and put our ears to the walls to listen for telltale squeaks. Dad thought he could hear something, and wedging his crowbar between the laths of the wall, exposed a ball of fir composed of three baby raccoons.

As our raccoons grew they became more and more independent. Some days you might see three striped tails moving through the grass as they ventured down to the water. By the time the leaves started to fall the raccoons were mostly grown and wanted little to do with people. We had been their mothers for a while but as soon as they were old enough to survive on their own their raccoon instincts kicked in. When they started to raid our garden, we trapped them and moved them to Isle au Haut, a nearby island with less than 60 year-round residents, only to have them swim back over. After that we moved them to an island on the opp

Some common words found in the essay are:
York Island, Mom Pop, , isle au haut, au haut, isle au, island grew, york island,

Approximate Word count = 707
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

Newest Essays

Testimonials

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.

Raccoons

Related Essays

Professional Essays

Saved Paper

Newest Essays

Testimonials