[BubonicPlague]

This began a couple of weeks ago, and has never happened before then.

I was feeding our two cats and one dog for the night in a big shed that we have in our backyard (this is their usual place where I feed them), and we store their food in a big plastic container on a built-in shelf that's about 3 1/2 feet off the ground.

The thing is that I leave with the door open after so they can leave and come in the shed. Well, I go away and come back the next morning and the container is knocked off the shelf. The lid came off, one of the corners broke and food spilled out all in a pile. I was so mad. I told my dad when I came back in the house when I had to leave for school. I asked for him to check it out and clean it up since I really didn't have the time to do it.

Dad and I had a feeling that it was probably raccoons.

We decided to use a plastic trashcan as a new container, and it had a snap-and-twist lid. We thought they wouldn't be able to get in there, but the next day I found it knocked over with the lid off. I was getting irritated. This time I twisted the lid on tighter. It was dragged in the middle of the floor. I decided to put it in a corner under the shelf, and it was outside of the door the next day.

We were both beginning to notice bite marks on the edge of the lid too. I was beginning to think it was the dog doing this, but he wasn't able to get up onto the shelf in the first place (he is a basset hound/black lab mix, so his short legs wouldn't get him off the ground).

This time I put a small wooden table blocking the trash can, and they moved it out of the way, still getting into the trashcan.

The smartest thing to do was to close the door. However, this started happening: I feed the animals, go into the house, come back out a few minutes later, they get into it again. A total of three times it was dragged all the way out to our tree that we have right next to our shed, and whatever was dragging the can (raccoons probably). It even left tracks in the gravel.

Finally we decide to set a trap.

We get a raccoon trap and I put a small bag of dog food in the trap. I check on it, and it's turned on it's side, trap door closed and that bag torn up littered off to the side.

I am at my wits end.

Friday we wedge the trap in between the shed door and the door way, and one of our animals bumped into trap and closed it.

Tried again last night.

Trap was closed again, and they didn't even take the food.

And here's the weird part: The trash can was once again moved, but it wasn't tipped over. Instead it was placed directly on top of the lid, and it looked like it was done neatly.

I spoke with my dad a few hours ago, and now we're starting to think that it could be human. I mean, what raccoon would do that?

Well, just in case it was human, I left an alarming note to see if I would get a strong response back on the door saying, "Stay the **** away from this shed!!!" I know it's rude, but I'm doing this to see if something else happens. It probably won't happen.

We don't live in a wooded area, we live on the outskirts of the suburbs, and are surrounded by smaller apartment complexes and rental homes. However, down the street there's a farm pasture. Our backyard has a tall white fence and next door we have chain linked fence where our neighbor's live. Behind our backyard is a grass space that's owned by our landowner. There is a smaller area with a few tall trees and some tall plants that's over by the neighbors. I don't know where the raccoons are coming from.

[BluCrystal]

WOW. That is really tenacious behavior, but racoons are like that: once they find a promising food source, they will go at it until it is either gone, or they get trapped. The thing with the can winding up on top of the lid was probably due to the fact that it was in a corner, and if you can imagine 3 good-sized racoons moving on and around it, it is possible that the can got pushed onto the lid in this way. I say hang the can from the ceiling, not near any walls or corners or windows, About 5 feet off the floor, with a simple hook for you to get the can down at feeding time. Or just bring the can into the house.

Hi BP: Oh yes... raccoons are smart, resourceful & tough... plus they're adapting to living in urban centers among humans very successfully! There was a program on the "Nature" series on public television in the U.S. oh... I'd say about a year ago, about raccoons & how they're adapting to life in & around the cities. Some of the footage was amazing!

A few years ago we owned a house with a decorative pond in the back yard. There was a point at which every morning we'd get up & find the whole thing messed up. After a few days of this, it occurred to us it might be a raccoon. So we contacted Animal Control. They brought out a live trap. And the next morning we had a great big raccoon in the trap. And he was not happy about the situation either!

[geis]

Raccoons are very inventive little buggers and can get into almost anything.

One thing that I've heard of people doing (it's gross, but I hear it works) is buying predator urine (bears or mountain lions) and pouring it around the area where they want the critters to stay out. Apparently garden shops sell this, at least where I live.

Alternatively, you could call your local animal control and see what they suggest. Since you have pets, that might be a good idea anyway--raccoons are a major carrier of rabies.

[Yoda]

My cattle dog kept the raccoons away but after he died the raccoons would chew through plastic totes to get to sweet feed. I gave up and finally started keeping the bags of sweet feed in my house which was a bother. I am not a fan of raccoons.