Saturday, August 30, 2008

Masked Bandit Discovered!

First we noticed food was missing. Then, after we tried to secure the food better, the vandalism began. Finally, last night, we caught the thief red-handed. Late last night we heard soft noises on the back porch and when we got there, a masked bandit in a thick, grey coat, in the very act of stuffing food in to his mouth, froze and gazed at us in fearful surprise at being caught. We froze too, and he suddenly had the presence of mind to make his escape. He turned to run off, and just before he disappeared from sight, he turned and looked me right in the eye so plaintively that my heart melted.

Perhaps I've been reading too much Dickens lately, but when someone is stealing food only, one assumes abject hunger drove him to it. And then, the little fellow was so cute - for he was small, although perhaps fully grown. But obviously, something must be done. So we are no longer going to be able to keep the cat food on the back porch. Kitty doesn't like to come in any more, but with such a desperate character afoot, perhaps she'll think better of it. And then the raccoon will have to find an honest way to feed himself!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor guy. He thought he'd found an all-night buffet...

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I'll guess you'll have to teach him that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Cherdecor said...

When I began reading this post, I thought, Oh no, someone is prowling around your house too! Lucky for you, it is ONLY a raccoon!

We just got home from buying motion lights because we see evidence of someone prowling around our house at night. There are cigarette butts on the drive, our back sliding door to the sunroom pushed open an inch and no farther because of the stick in the door, shrubbery broken, and our pond water had bubbles in it even after we changed the water. I mean LOTS of bubbles. This is getting weird! So motion lights are going up this weekend! What a mystery this is turning out to be!

Rosezilla (Tracie Walker) said...

Yikes, Cheryl, that's scary! Please be careful and let me know what happens! You're in my prayers.

Merle said...

Dear Rosezilla ~~ Nice story of your prowler. Glad he was a hungry 4 legged one. I hope your friend above is safe from her prowler.
Thanks for your comments on the Teacher story. It was a good story and I think it was true. Take care, Love, Merle.

Anonymous said...

I absolutely loved your story! It made my day. We had an incident where the rattan welcome mat on our porch was slowly disappearing and we blamed it on the poor neighborhood cats. Then one day we caught a little squirrel in the act. There he sat with a whole mouthful of my welcome mat. He looked at me as if to say thank you for helping me build my nest. Then he ran away. The little devil.

Louise said...

You had me worried for a second, I thought you had a human intruder, who was looting your property. To look that in the eye would have scared me senseless! But to learn it is a raccoon bandit coming for a free meal has slowed down the heartbeat significantly! x

kari and kijsa said...

Thank you for all your prayers and blessings!
Have a wonderful Labor Day,
kari & kijsa

steviewren said...

Poor little bandit, his gig is up.

Anonymous said...

I used to like raccoons, until they attacked my rabbit! Now NOT SO MUCH. Be careful Trace.

Lavinia said...

Oh those masked bandits...they get into everything...

Jenny said...

Awwww ... I think those little critters are so cute! Well ... maybe not always so little. I once saw one climbing up the side of my sister's brick house in Canada, trying desperately to reach a bird feeder! He must have weighed 25 pounds.

Rhondi said...

We have had a raccoon visiting our trash cans for a lont time now. Even though we have secured the lid with very tight bungie rope, they still manage to pry oen the lid and get inside. At least they can't take the garbage out and leave it all over the yard!

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