Short Post

This morning I left for an hour to do some errands, and when I came back, someone was knocking at the gate of the big henyard from the pasture side.  I ran in to get my camera and Lilly Ann... and when we got back out there... the "someone" was ducking right through a tear in the gate on the OPPOSITE side of the henyard, and running in amongst the birds.  Luckily, I was right on it's tail... and it ducked into the 4 x 4 pen that we kept juveniles in, and that the birds use for shade (when the tarp is in one piece). ....

Uh huh. 

Mr. Bandit looks pretty scared, doesn't he.  I slammed the gate shut, and ran to close the pophole of the big henhouse... and left the five little roosters out for a minute... brought Lilly in and let her sniff around the pen so that the raccoon had a good look at her.... then took her out... ran the roosters back on the little henhouse side and shut the gate in between them... ran back in to call Keith... and then looked out the window and saw Lil sitting at the gate, staring... and ran back out to find the coon already gone, out the torn top, and back through the gate it had just come through.

Oh, well. 

We would have tried to live-trap it to take it out to Leavenworth County Lake... because frankly, it will keep coming back.  Barring that, it would have to be euthanized.  

We know the animals are very cold and hungry right now, but I don't need to walk into the henhouse some afternoon when home alone, and find it in there eating my birds, or worse, beheading them.  Abby definitely is staying out of the pasture at this point... and after I was sure it was gone, I took both Abs and Lilly into the henyards, and my gosh, they quartered them, noses to the ground, even Abby.  We just don't want her to mess with one. 

That's two predators out in the open in daylight hours this week.