My turtles were attacked

[68merc]

Came home from church to find my soft shell in the pool. Having NO earthly clue how she got out of the pond I went to look and found 1 of 2 RES missing from the pond. A quick search of the yard and my wife found him on his back in the flower bed, still alive. He was covered in blood and I could see he was missing his front claws. After getting him into a tub and cleaned up the story got worse. He is missing both back legs at the knee and both front feet at the wrist.
I've cleaned him and the open wounds, he is now resting in the garage with heat and light.
I don't know whats going to happen to him but he will always have a home here.

I live in the city, and never expected wild animals to be in my yard. 2 years ago we did see a raccoon in the front yard and assumed it was a fluke that he was here. I have set a LIVE trap and moved the remaining turtles to a safe place.

 

[dmmj]

As long as no infection sets in, the RES should be just fine, I and many others have RES who have lost limbs to raccoon attacks and they do just fine once they are healed.

 

[l0velesly]

How unfortunate. I hope your RES will be able to recover quickly.

 

[Irwin4530]

They are lucky to have such a great family!
I am sorry that happened to you and you little ones.
hope they heal quickly!

 

[mattgrizzlybear]

Oh my gosh! I hope they are okay! Poor little things

 

[Len B]

Sorry to hear this, Hope everyone comes out OK. Did you look for footprints around the pond to verify it was a coon? They don't usually prowl for food in the daytime, (unless they are sic).

 

[Anthony P]

From what I've always heard, Racoons have the worst reputation of preying on turtle collections. I am so sorry to hear about your misfortune. I wish you luck. Your animals will be in my thoughts..

 

[yagyujubei]

Shoot the raccoon when you catch him right in the trap. There are probably several. I would keep a trap set for awhile. Cat food is a good bait. Cats or possums are not a problem.

 

[68merc]

Shoot the raccoon when you catch him right in the trap.

I could never do that!

Did I tell you I have a .177 pellet gun that shoots 1080 feet per second?

---

 

[Pokeymeg]

Ooohhhh poor thing!!!

 

[Holycow]

Sounds like a raccoon to me. Most folks don't realize that there are far more raccoons in urban areas than traditional "forest" situations. It makes sense however, plenty of cat food, yummy garbage and fresh clean swimming pools to drink from- why would they want to live out in the woods?
On another note, try using marshmallows in your trap if all you are catching are opossum and cats.
Good luck.
--Jeff

 

[mainey34]

Awww..poor guy...speedy recovery to him...

 

[wellington]

Sorry about your turtles. It's unfortunate, but the wild animal was just doing what comes natural. Glad you couldn't shoot it. Hope all goes well with the recovery of your turtles and the relocating the perp.

 

[yagyujubei]

In my state, it is illegal to release raccoons, period. I believe in California, you may release "in the same area" or turn in to be euthanized.

 

[bellyboo]

Poor guy! I'm so sorry. I've been there. Several years back my hubby and I had two baby RES. When they were about 2 years old we had an above ground pond that we would let them out in during the day. There was no way they could get out, but we always kept an eye on them anyway and brought them in at night. Then one day we were gone most of the day and came home to find that a raccoon had eaten both.

Hope he heals quickly and you have no more raccoon problems!

 

[EricIvins]

Sorry to hear this, Hope everyone comes out OK. Did you look for footprints around the pond to verify it was a coon? They don't usually prowl for food in the daytime, (unless they are sic).

I will disagree with this 110%. If a Racoon, or group of Racoons, figures out they have a consistant food source available during the day, they will change their natural activity patterns to reflect said food source.......I haven't seen this with Opposums though......

 

[Laura]

any dogs have access? coons would have done more damage i think.. did you see them BEFORE church? could this have occured at night?

 

[68merc]

any dogs have access? coons would have done more damage i think.. did you see them BEFORE church? could this have occured at night?

Laura, didn't see them before church and there was/is no sign of dogs.

There was blood on the steps inside the pool where i found the soft shell, yet he had no injury at all. Makes me think the Raccoon was washing his food.

 

[Len B]

Sorry to hear this, Hope everyone comes out OK. Did you look for footprints around the pond to verify it was a coon? They don't usually prowl for food in the daytime, (unless they are sic).

I will disagree with this 110%. If a Racoon, or group of Racoons, figures out they have a consistant food source available during the day, they will change their natural activity patterns to reflect said food source.......I haven't seen this with Opposums though......

I guess you missed the word---usually---.

 

[Robyn@TRR]

Best of luck on the recovery.