Breaking News: Raccoons Invade White House Grounds

[Hope And Change]

Raccoons Invade White House Grounds

By Michael D. Shear

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 5, 2009; 10:46 AM

A small band of masked intruders has broken into the secure White House grounds and has evaded capture by agents of the new Obama administration, officials said today.

The National Park Service is in pursuit of one very large raccoon and several medium-sized raccoons, who have been spotted roaming the grounds around the Executive Mansion and the West Wing, a spokesman said.

"The idea of raccoons on the White House grounds give us great pause," spokesman Bill Burton said.

So far, the raccoons have evaded capture despite the presence of several "live traps," which are essentially cages with a one-way doors to keep the animals inside.

The traps are baited with apples, cat food and peanut butter, Burton said, but so far to little avail


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020501306.html?hpid=moreheadlines">Full article here

[Catshrink]

1. Broken link?

Cool story but the link doesn't work.

[Hope And Change]

4. Works now.

[YOY]

2. You'd be surprised at wildlife in DC/NOVA/MD

I've seen foxes, turtles, hawks, and that mother freaking oppossum that keeps on scaring the shit out of me when I go out to my back porch after hours...hissing little monster.

(Wouldn't do anything to it, but it scared the crap out of me on more than one occasion.)

[FirstLight]

12. bwahahaha!

Possums are definitely NOT the thing I would want to run into on a dark porch! lol
they are freaky looking and mean little fuckers!
I think they are related to swere rats, the way they like suburbia and even cities...


Really? you have turtles? I live in a lake region (sierras)and still haven't run across a turtle in the wild...frogs, yes.

[YOY]

24. 4 Mile Run Park.

Has a few sanctuaries. They escape from time to time. Turtles don't last long on busy street. Next one I see gets picked up and put back in the sanctuaty.

[CatWoman]

45. I've got this jerk ass giant possum in my back yard too

there's some stray cats who hang around, and when that possum comes around they give him "respect" :)

[YOY]

48. They're giving respect for a reason...ever see those teeth?

Needle nastiness and probably really dangerous with all the bacteria from the garbage they eat.

[sofa king]

51. And the beavers. Don't forget the beavers.

Every couple of years some adventurous beaver finds the Tidal Basin and endeavors to make it his own by damming it up with our precious cherry trees.

Oh, and Roosevelt Island, just opposite Georgetown and Foggy Bottom, is a little wonderland. I still tick off the hunters around here by showing them this cell-phone picture I took there:

[dbackjon]

3. Linkie no workie

[skeewee08]

5. I was thinking Bush & Cheney were trying to return:-)

[Uzybone]

6. "sigh"

A black family moves into the WH and here come the racoons.

I know, I'm oversensitive.

[asphalt.jungle]

20. well in my neck of the woods

a proud black family like the obamas wouldn't be the shortened version of that word, it would be people like juan williams and jesse peterson that would get that label (well they've had it for many years already anyway). i thought this article was about them waging war and trying to do the racist wingnuts bidding or something.

[Venceremos]

7. Marshmallows

We had a huge problem with raccoons - marshmallows work in the live traps. Apples, cat food and peanut butter never worked for us either.

[PylesMalfunction]

50. They might attract skunks though

As a former camp counselor, I can say with first hand knowledge that marshmallows are a siren song for skunks. :D

[FirstLight]

8. heh heh, the little bandits..

They were known as little bears to some natives I think. I also know they are very good problem solvers and quite smart. And don't let your cat out when they are around, they can be vicious when riled up!

My "Animal Medicine Powers" reference card, by Dolfyn says this:

Racoon- Insatiably curious and mischevious (reminds me of the girls energy, and the family is very playful, too) Invoke for humor, playfulness, and the ability to skillfuly inquire and scrutinize....

cool stuff, maybe these animals are their totems in some way?

[WinkyDink]

9. ANOTHER ignored PDB.

[IDemo]

42. No one could foresee Bin Racoon determined to attack?

[WinkyDink]

49. Now watch them go after the I-Rockies!

[shireen]

10. eh? are they concerned about Raccoon-cams?

So these raccoons are strapped with little spy cameras?
I say forget the racccoons, i'm more suspicious of those squirrels. Who knows what they're hiding in their bushy tails ....

[BattyDem]

11. I guess the raccoons want change, too.

:P

[demo dutch]

13. Peanut butter? Hope it's the good kind without salmonella

[kestrel91316]

14. Raccoon rabies is a big problem on the eastern seaboard.

For safety's sake they need to move those little guys along to somewhere else.

[Occam Bandage]

15. Cheney tried to warn us that Obama's policies would endanger us. nt

[Jennicut]

16. Yeah, vermin are out to get us.

Everyone get out their pepper spray.

[Hope And Change]

19. LMAO.

:rofl:

[Occam Bandage]

23. I've got a pistol crossbow. I'll enlist in the Department of Backyard Security. nt

[Jennicut]

25. My husband once maced a poor defenseless rabbit

He was a meter reader for the power company here in CT (CT Light and Power). He saw a rabbit charging him one day and thought it was rabid so he maced it! Poor guy.

[Occam Bandage]

29. Unfortunately, most of the rabbits I see

have been disemboweled by my Jack Russell terrier. He's a sweet, gentle little doggie who loves everyone and everything, up until he sees something that is small, furry and not a dog, at which point he becomes a brutal murderous psychopath until his target is either dead or completely inaccessible to him. Thankfully, he has at least learned that I do not appreciate being given a mutilated baby rabbit, and it seems that rabbits are slowly beginning to learn that this is not a safe place to be...

Still, deputize him and deploy him on the White House lawn, and I'm pretty sure that either he or the raccoons would be dead within an hour.

[Jennicut]

30. Oh, poor rabbits. My cat used to bring me frogs. Lovely.

[bbernardini]

17. Freepers make racist joke about this in 5...4...3... nt

[The Hope Mobile]

32. I was trying so hard not to go there . . . .

But I guarantee its already happenin'

[Captain Hilts]

36. You just did. nt

[JohnnyBoots]

38. I wouldn't be surprised if a Freeper dropped a couple off while he was at a traffic light on PA ave

[Raine]

46. Knew that would happen

*sigh* :-(

[AndyTiedye]

18. Raccoons Come into Our Kitchen if We Leave the Cat Door Open at Night

[Jennicut]

21. They can be nasty little suckers, keep em away from the kitty.

[silverweb]

39. Yup, I had that happen once. In the city.

Right around dusk, a big fat ol' racoon ambled into the kitchen and started eating the cat food. We spotted each other just at the same moment and darned if the beast didn't actually come towards me -- not in a threatening way, but as if he was very accustomed to being around people.

To make a long story short, it took some conniving, but I lured him back outside again and then closed the back door.

[AtomicKitten]

22. Maybe this is a job for Homeland Security.

[Jennicut]

26. Occam is already starting up the HOBS

Homeland of Backyard Security

[AtomicKitten]

27. This axis of varmints must not go unchecked! n/t

[leveymg]

28. They're smarter than the former tenant at 1600

They can open doors, and they know how to find their way in and out of rooms.

[TheWraith]

31. Shouldn't the Secret Service be able to help?

I would imagine that they've got thermal cameras somewhere around the White House.

[zbdent]

33. I can see the thread on freepturdia ...

"I always tole ya thar's a coon in the oval orifice now ..."

[Undercurrent]

34. .

Raccoons are regular visitors on my porch, and they like to climb on my roof where they make a huge racket! Bear, deer, and other critters are regular yard visitors too.

I'm having a cougar problem.

A few weeks ago a mature cougar showed up. Not a rare occurrence out hear in the woods. All of my neighbors are on alert now, and he's been spotted several times. Sadly, pets had already disappeared before we knew the cougar was on the prowl. My neighbor's dog, and my sweet cat Rocket. :cry:

[Beacool]

41. Sorry about the pets.

I'm a city girl, I can't imagine having a cougar in the backyard.

:scared:

[illuminaughty]

47. As if on cue, our raccoon family is currently fighting above my

head while reading this thread. We shut down a huge greenhouse after my father died in 02 and it is a wildlife park on it's own. But, for the last few years the raccs have made their way through the gables and have free reign in the attic.

A few weeks ago I was all dressed up headed out to dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a long time. Ten minutes before he arrived, a part of the ceiling in a closet collapsed, the door flew open and by the time I went to see what had happened, a raccoon was sitting in the bathroom sink.
Fortunately my friend knows how crazy my life AND this house are so he joined in coaxing the guy
out.

They're always friendly and come and touch their nose to my finger when I press it against the window in between the house and greenhouse.

So sorry about your babies. They found a cougar here in Kansas a few months ago sitting outside a grade school. Wow. I'm in the city but am surrounded by enough land to see coyotes...and I know we have bobcats. I get worried about my cats too.

[riqster]

35. A mad-scientist friend built an ultrasonic device of some sort

...kept all manner of varmints away.

[Beacool]

37. I'm rooting for the coons, hang in there guys!!!

Well, it IS the people's (and critters) house after all...........

:7

[Enrique]

40. Cheney used to keep them away

he would wander the White House grounds seeking out signs of life...

[PA Democrat]

43. Thank goodness I wasn't drinking anything. That's funny.

[rainbow4321]

44. Aggghh..don't use peanut butter..we want them caught ALIVE

and then released somewhere else ALIVE.

Maybe they are trying to beat out the future First Dog in becoming the family pet :)

[Sannum]

52. Are they looking for their leader?