<p>We hear raccoons screaming at night in the spring sometimes. They sound like something being tortured.</p>
<p>I used to leave the porch door unnlocked so my cats could go in and out. They had figured out how to get it open and scurry in and out quickly so their tails wouldn’t get caught. One night I walked into the kitchen to find a racoon eating the cat food.</p>
<p>Then during the winter I heard a banging on the now-locked porch door. It was 2 baby racoons (I always thought they were born in the spring) throwing themselves against the door. I guess their mama had taught them where to go for free food.</p>
<p>cute picture ! he must have been looking for a cheeseburger !</p>
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LOL, BunsenBurner! Rabies shots are no fun, though.</p>
<p>I caught a couple of young raccoons eating the knobs off my gas grill. I guess they tasted good or it was something to do.</p>
<p>Lergnom, I had squirrels eat right thru the plastic lids on my garbage bins…they were awful to keep off my bird feeders…I hate squirrels</p>
<p>My daughter says that a squirrel is a rat with a cuter outfit</p>
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<p>DH had them about two years ago. Our two dogs were playing with a dead raccoon, which DH verrrrrrry carefully shoveled into a trash bag, then threw away in a dumpster. He called our vet to check that the dogs would be OK (of course they’ve had their shots), and the vet pointed out that DH might have come in contact with the raccoon’s blood or saliva, from touching the dogs. Since by this point the dumpster had been emptied and the raccoon corpse couldn’t be retrieved, DH had the shots. It wasn’t awful – nothing in the stomach, as is rumored – but he got three shots the first day, then three more single shots spaced about two weeks apart.</p>
<p>Thank goodness for insurance – it cost around $3,500.</p>
<p>Interesting about the fighting raccoons and the screaming sound they make. I have been awakened at least twice this summer by the sounds of some animal screaming. It was blood-curdling. We have lots of raccoons and this explains a lot.</p>
<p>jordansmom, our neighbors used to have a couple of peacocks. These birds’ screams are truly surreal…</p>
<p>Lol, we know it was racoons making that racket because we saw them with the flashlight, and saw their humped little bodies walking on the spine of the fence.</p>
<p>BB, how on earth could your neighbor have peacocks??</p>
<p>^^Not only peacocks, but several people in my neck of the woods have/had goats, sheep, countless horses and ponies, chickens, ducks. The minimum lot size in my area is a horse acre, and we don’t really have any CCRs. Wild West at its finest. 
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<p>(I’m really glad those peacocks are gone.)</p>