CSI: Critter Scene Investigation

The other day I noticed that the metal bracket holding one of my bird feeders was bent and the feeder was missing. Our crack critter forensics team immediately sprang into action. After a thorough investigation, which was conducted through the process of “going outside to take a look,” we decided it must have been a raccoon.

The crime scene


A squirrel wouldn’t be strong enough to bend the bracket, and a bear would have done more damage to the feeder, which was lying in the flower bed below the deck. In fact, this particular feeder was still a bit bent from its last bear encounter in June.

The victim


I decided to start taking the feeders in at night, but the other night I forgot and left one sitting on our patio table. In the middle of the night Dean heard something on the deck. He got up to check it out and saw a furry critter on the patio table, getting into the feeder. He switched on the light, and there was the biggest, fattest raccoon he’d ever seen. “At first I thought it was a bear cub. The thing was huge.”

Huge and bold. Dean turned the light on, thinking it would run (or waddle) away. It just glanced up, gave Dean a nonchalant look and went back to its meal. Dean opened the door to make some noise, and the raccoon finally ambled off.

The next morning as Dean recounted his visual confirmation of our CSI hypothesis, I reminded him that I keep our camera handy for critter photo ops like this. If he comes back, we’ll try to catch him red-pawed and get a mug shot.