Our mom and dad lived in the South Bay in Los Angeles are. Hummingbirds were mom’s favorite to watch outside.
Last night I stepped out on my deck about 10:00 and noticed movement from the corner of my eye near the steps up to the deck, I saw dark fur. I expected to see a feral cat, there are a few around occasionally. When I turned for a better look I was shocked to see the face of a raccoon looking straight at me as he was stepping on to the deck. I stomped my foot and he ran back down the steps and under the deck. I heard him hit the downspout extension that runs under the deck so I knew that’s where he went.
I stepped inside to turn on the outside light and stepped back out to look for him running away but instead he was coming back onto the deck and straight toward me, looking me right in the eye. I got back in and closed the sliding door just as he reached it. He stood looking through the glass at me for a few minutes.
I don’t have any raccoon experience but it seems very odd to me that he returned and approached me after my aggressive stomping. He (she?) made no sounds and didn’t look crazed or scared.
Could he be rabid? Maybe he’s seen Dewey and Tink through the windows and wanted to get in to get them? They have been watching out the nearby windows intently at night for the past week or so.
Doubt it, they will look “crazy”.
Could be very hungry.
Very unlikely, Trash pandas tend to want to make friends or want to scare off other animals rather then “eat” them.
Could be, though if you see this type of behavior and it is daytime it is more likely. Not much good data, though it is thought that only 1% of raccoons have rabies.
One of the problems we have in our community is people feed them, typically on the deck. This one and his associates, you can bet he or she has friends nearby, get used to humans. Food availability aka open trash cans or feeding them keeps them around.
This is not a good thing.
They can be very aggressive. I was down in a foundation “pit” a few years ago, digging out the silt that had washed in overnight. 10 feet above me I hear the scratching climb up a timber to get into the little house. We had disconnected the back house to lift the barn. Here I am 15 feet down below him he turns and looks at me, growling like a mad dog or a bear. Big sharp, very sharp teeth. He went into the open little house, I went back to shoveling.
We did meet again, once I had trapped him.
In addition to rabies, that is actually very rare, though talked about alot… Do NOT handle the feces it can and likely has roundworms in it. The poop looks a little like a tootsie roll when fresh. The worms can live in the poop and even the dust for years.
Once eggs are ingested by a person or animal, after the eggs hatch, worms make their way to the brain or even eyes.
Even standard dust masks will not protect you. We learned this when we had a problem cleaning up from the bats. Their guano (poop) can cause histoplasmosis creating great damage to the lungs. It was explained to us by the CDC, “Your lungs can turn to stone.”