I have missed a few daily blogs in the last week or so, and for that I apologize. There were a few nights where I was up late or away from home and computer and unable to do my blog.
My parents' new dog is settling in. She's still terrified of pretty much everything... people (even ones she knows), anything that gets dropped, whenever someone picks something up, loud noises, too many people, fast movement... But she is getting used to having food available twice a day (she no longer swallows it whole as fast as she can), and having her own place to sleep (she has a crate with a bed at night).
I did look up the laws here, and state law in Minnesota says a property owner can trap and kill a raccoon without a trapping license if it is causing damages or killing livestock, so long as a DNR officer is notified within 24 hours of killing it. That sounds reasonable to me.
A note here... I would love to live in harmony with nature. That is the intent. However, I will not allow that wildlife to kill my ducks (who cannot fly away because they're domestic flightless breeds), and risk more harm to my cats, chickens, guineas, goose, dog, and children by essentially encouraging them to stick around by feeding them my ducks. Research shows that fences will not keep them out. Raccoons can climb over or dig under fences, finding holes or weaknesses and manipulating them. Now I'm a little worried he/she/they'll dig under and into the bunny barn (which has a dirt floor). Maybe the extreme cold will buy us some time. It's much harder to dig when the ground is frozen solid. Either way, it's time to trap a raccoon!