On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 13:24:21 GMT, "Mike Miller"
wrote:

After setting out the hav-a-hart trap for many, many, many nights and
continuing to catch possum after possum, I finally got "the" racoon who's
been ransacking my pond, released in many miles from here in the forest
preserve, and went to bed a few nights w/o hooking up the scarecrow and
setting the trap.

Lo and behold, this morning I have rocks moved, lily buds nibbled and plants
shredded. This is a mild one, but I know it gets worse (lily pots upturned,
etc.). Arg! So a few ?'s from those with experience:

1) Possums don't do this, do they? I keep releasing them, thinking them
harmless. In the past I've seen snails shells outside the pond, too, but
could possums ALSO be doing the trashing?

2) I my backyard is enclosed with a 6' fence, so the coons can't see the
pond, but they can hear the dribble of the waterfall. Would it do any good
to move the hose each night so it doesn't make a dribbling sound, or will
these varmints smell the pond or something?

I need to trap this new one, I know, but I'd like to dissuade future bandits
from even climbing over.

They smell the water...

With last nights power outage my electric fence went down
....sigh and I had my first raccoon incursion since I installed
it. No fish lost, (or even really annoyed) but one of my lilies
was shredded and there was a load of second hand spaghetti in and
around the pond.