Coons~~Pros and Cons..

[Wilma]

Jarhead, I like pet coons, too.  I just don't have any at the moment.  Which reminds me of the first pet coon we had.  I found it in the hen house one night when I went out to see what was bothering the chickens.  Being a pet it wanted to come to me, but not knowing it was a pet, I wasn't waiting for it.  Anyway, it turned out it belonged to a neighbor who didn't really want it anymore, so we got a pet coon.  We also had a small indescribeable dog of about the same size.  The dog was old and didn't want to be bothered, but the coon was young and wanted to play.  The dog would lie down and refuse to play so the coon would jump at him and jump away.  One day when he jumped away, he landed on the back of my leg and reactively bit me.  That poor little coon was so sorry for what he had done, you could just see it in his face.  He had committed an unforgiveable act and he knew it.  We had to pet him and reassure him that everything was all right.  The bite healed up, the bruise went away and I still don't have rabies.  We did finally have to turn him loose.  I always hoped that he made it all right in the wild.

[jarhead]

Wilma, Coons do not make good pets. They are a wild animal and should be left that way. About 15 years ago a friend from Elk City found out the hard way. He raised a baby coon with an eye dropper. That cute little fur ball would ride wrapped around his neck------then that little cutie grew into a 20 lb plus, boar coon. One night it got into his kid's bedroom where it proceeded to mount the youngest child head. Three adults could not get that coon off the child. Shot the coon off with a .30-30 rifle, while it was wrapped around that little boys head chewing his face to shreds. The child had to be air lifted to Wichita the injuries were so bad. All 3 adults and another child had to have rabies shots. Nope coons do not make good pets !!!

[srkruzich]

bout the only thing a coon is good for is bbq'ing

[readyaimduck]

not unless you can train the coon to dig through Elk Konnected's trash so we might just 'happen to stumble on some info'.

Oh wait....we don't know whose trash....   it is that needs going to.  That wasn't phrased right, said out loud!
(Could not contain myself)

[Ross]

bout the only thing a coon is good for is bbq'ing

I've got afriend that says that and he eats them.

[Wilma]

I wouldn't recommend a coon for a pet, nor any wild animal, except for maybe a baby rabbit.  It isn't fair to the animal.  Besides, now it is against the law.  If a wild animal needs help, you have to notify the guys that used to be game wardens.  No, wild animals do not make good pets.  This was way back in 1957 and my husband was well aware of what a wild animal could do.  It was a pet, but it wasn't allowed to run free or alone.  It was locked up except when we were with it.  One of the reasons we turned it loose was that it was a good escape artist and my husband knew that sometime or other there would trouble with it.  My husband was the original Elk County red neck.

[Diane Amberg]

Same thing happened here. People used to raise orphans until they could make it on their own and then take them far away for release.
  Big boar 'coons sure can be mean. People who used to coon hunt in the  wooded hills near here would tell tales of big coons drowning their dogs if they could lure them into a creek. Now the orphans are taken to licensed rescue people who will foster them for later release.

[farmgal67357]

So is a male raccoon called a boar? What do you call a female? I would never have one for a pet simply because they can get into anything and everything! I have enough trouble with cats and ferrets, especially the ferrets. They will steal anything they can drag away! But they are so cute....
Lisa

[W. Gray]

A female is a sow and the young one is a cub.

Here are designations for a number of animals.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/animals/Animalbabies.shtml

[Janet Harrington]

Wilma, Coons do not make good pets. They are a wild animal and should be left that way. About 15 years ago a friend from Elk City found out the hard way. He raised a baby coon with an eye dropper. That cute little fur ball would ride wrapped around his neck------then that little cutie grew into a 20 lb plus, boar coon. One night it got into his kid's bedroom where it proceeded to mount the youngest child head. Three adults could not get that coon off the child. Shot the coon off with a .30-30 rifle, while it was wrapped around that little boys head chewing his face to shreds. The child had to be air lifted to Wichita the injuries were so bad. All 3 adults and another child had to have rabies shots. Nope coons do not make good pets !!!

Oh my gosh, jarhead. How awful for that child. About the only memory of that coon that I have is when the family took it into Greenwood County and turned it loose, a long ways from Severy. I don't think mother and daddy let us kids handle the coon, but I could be wrong. I am pretty sure they didn't let the coon have the run of the house unsupervised by an adult. I'm with you, though. Coons are wild animals and should be left as such. And they are good for bbq.