New Species? Tail-less coons.

[tallyho8]

I caught two young coon in my chicken yard today. They appear to be about 6 weeks old and they were born tail-less.

I'm keeping my eyes out for the mother because I want to see if she is tail-less too. Anyone ever see a coon with no tail before?

And no, they weren't cut off. The rear is perfectly formed and they are too young to have had them cut off and healed perfectly already.

 

[newbury]

What's the pollution levels in your area?

 

[tallyho8]

What's the pollution levels in your area?

Now that you mention it, I do live about 1 mile from the largest landfill in Louisiana. Hmmmmm!

 

[MossRoad]

Ya know... that whole legless frogs and pollution thing has been proven to be dragonfly nymphs eating the legs off tadpoles..
BBC - Earth News - Legless frogs mystery solved

So find what's eating your raccoon tails!

In all seriousness, there's some discussions about tailless raccoons out there on google. Interesting.

 

[RobertBrown]

What are you planning to do with those youngsters?
And no I have never seen a raccoon without a tail.

 

[MossRoad]

Looks good with no tail...

 

[oosik]

All the coons here have tails. Side note: be careful with handling the little critters. Remember - like many animals - coons can be carriers of rabies.

 

[tallyho8]

I had a coon raid my tack room in my barn last night and eat all the cat food. I am sure it must be the mother of these two. I am going to set up my live trap tonight and also my game camera in hopes of finding out if she is tailless also.

I will report back tomorrow.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Looks good with no tail...
View attachment 433984

I had the pleasure of meeting Fess Parker about 1955 at a local TV station. Buddy of mine and I had won a local talent contest so we got a spot on one of the local programs. I recall him being a big guy, very nice. Up close, I noticed a huge scar down his jawbone to his chin. Didn't show up on TV, but it person it was more than obvious. Years later, I did a bit of research on him and found out that the had been in a fender bender, and some guy tried to cut his head off; hence the huge scar.

 

[MossRoad]

I had the pleasure of meeting Fess Parker about 1955 at a local TV station. Buddy of mine and I had won a local talent contest so we got a spot on one of the local programs. I recall him being a big guy, very nice. Up close, I noticed a huge scar down his jawbone to his chin. Didn't show up on TV, but it person it was more than obvious. Years later, I did a bit of research on him and found out that the had been in a fender bender, and some guy tried to cut his head off; hence the huge scar.

But what was the talent???

 

[2LaneCruzer]

But what was the talent???

We both played guitars and sang Country songs in harmony, like "He's in the Jailhouse Now" and some select Hank Williams stuff.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice! :thumbsup:

 

[tallyho8]

Caught a darn cat in my trap last night. I'll try to catch the coon again tonight.

 

[groundcover]

So does cat taste like coon ?

 

[MossRoad]

Caught a darn cat in my trap last night. I'll try to catch the coon again tonight.

Careful what you wish for. There's a thread somewhere here on TBN about me trying to catch a groundhog (VS just fixing the hole in my garage) and I caught the neighbor's cat instead... a black cat... with a white stripe.... YIKES!!!! :laughing:

Here's a link...
Catch and Release Fishing is for Wimps

 

[Ed of all trades]

You don't know it but what you have is a couple "Teenage mutant ninja coons" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:shocked:

 

[tallyho8]

You don't know it but what you have is a couple "Teenage mutant ninja coons" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:shocked:

You may be right. See my next post.

 

[tallyho8]

After catching the barn cat Thursday night, I reset the trap last night and I caught a coon. A little while later another coon let it out the trap.

These traps are designed so that an animal inside can't open the trap but a coon on the outside can open it as they can open almost anything a person can open.

My game cam photos show the cat I caught and the coon I caught and the other coon that let it out the trap. I wish I had set my camera on movie mode to see how he did it. I don't use movie mode because the cats and horses set the camera off so often that it gets full too quick.

I can see that one coon has a tail but I can't tell if the one in the trap has a tail or not. These two may be the mom and pop of the 2 tailless coons I have.

I will set the trap again tonight but coon are so smart that they might not go in the trap a second time.

 

[tallyho8]

The coon came back last night but just as I suspected, he is now too smart to go back in the trap again. Notice how my watch cat keeps an eye on the coon.

I will move the trap and set it differently tonight to try again.

 

[tallyho8]

I moved my trap to a new location and disguised it with hay and shavings. Last night I caught the coon again and the other coon released him from the trap again.

Now I have to figure out some way to keep a coon on the outside from being able to open the trap. Any ideas?