06/14/03 SAT:
---We trapped a raccoon last night. Took it across Saylorville Lake on the Mile-Long Brigdge to Jester State Park and released it. Looked like a nice place to live for a wild animal, except this one was accustomed to eating birdfood from Amy’s birdfeeders. When I thought to check the trap which I had set earlier in the day to try to pick off another of the stray cats which have been proliferating here, I forgot about it until after the NBA game which I largely slept through anyway. Sure enough, there was a raccoon, with another one hanging around, perhaps in concern for its comrade, perhaps wanting the food under the cage. The raccoon was surprisingly docile when we picked up the cage and transported it. All in all, maybe three futile snarls and lunges. Nothing protracted. The stray cat we caught took her capturing a lot harder. Since we bought the trap we have taken two kittens and one full-grown stray cat to the Animal Rescue League. And now the one raccoon. We still have something like five cats and at least one more raccoon we would like to be rid of. But the cats have become savvy about the trap, and I would think the raccoon might have gotten the picture too.