Masked Bandits at the Farm

Don't worry - all is well and we have caught the thieves   We've been dealing with nightly raids for weeks - they were certainly getting the best of us.  We thought it best to keep the authorities out of it given the circumstances.  However the theft and damage was becoming very costly.  In true Mission Impossible fashion we conducted surveillance, decided on the best course of action and thankfully everything turned out OK and no one got hurt.  

We did however catch some really cute raccoons.

The little buggers were in the walls of the barn for weeks and found a way to make daily forays into the duck pen - which we thought was as fortified as Fort Knox -  where they ate themselves silly on duck food.  How convenient - we put out food for them just like the dog.

We put the trap right in the pen on Saturday night and by Sunday morning we had number 1.  We delivered her to the local conservation area and reset the trap.  This morning we caught Number 2 sneaking around in the pen so into a cage he/she went.  After waiting for several hours in hopes of catching some more siblings (and hopefully saving us a trip) we gave up and made the second trip to the conservation area. We arrived home and thought - let's go check the pen right away - and there were Numbers 3,4 & 5 pestering Momma Duck who was kicking up a really loud fuss about them invading her space.  Back to the conservation area we went AGAIN!  I was feeling rather like we needed to name our unorthodox animal taxi service.  The Masked Bandit Express?  

They are adorable-looking but we have seen first hand the damage they can do in the barn and how much they EAT!  Bye-bye raccoons...problem is I heard at least one more!  The trap is set - we'll see what we catch tomorrow!