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Alligator River stories
THE
BEAR'S LITTLE BROTHER THAT WASHES HIS FOOD
By William R. West
Cute
. . . and adaptable, too!
I
often saw raccoon pelts hanging to dry on the front porches as I rode the
school bus on the River Neck route in Tyrrell County. Many people in the
county hunted raccoons both for sport and as a source of income. At that
time a good raccoon pelt would sell for 5 dollars, a welcome sum when 10
cents would buy a Double-Cola and a Moon Pie.
The
raccoon (Procyon
lotor) spends much of its time near water searching for food with its
5-fingered "hands." The animal is partial to worms, snails,
crayfish, fish, frogs, mussels, and just about anything else that is
edible. Like its larger cousin, the bear, the raccoon is an omnivore, and
its ability to find food in just about any habitat has allowed it to
greatly expand its territory.
Today
the raccoon is firmly established in New York's Central Park and in cities
all along the East Coast. It is so adaptable that road-killed raccoons are
now more common than opossums on my travels back to Tyrrell County.
Adaptability is only part of the reason for its current success, however,
for lack of demand for its fur precludes raccoon hunting and trapping.
The
raccoon does face some major problems that could lead to measures to
control its burgeoning population. The animal has always been a serious
pest for the corn grower, especially the farmer who grows sweet corn.
Some
time ago an agronomist at NC State University told me that raccoons
consistently devastated his sweet corn test plots just at the roasting ear
stage. They began with the sweetest corn and they could locate a
25-square-foot plot surrounded by dozens of similar-sized plots of
less-sweet corn. They also know when the grapes begin ripening in my
backyard vineyard, and each year I have to erect an electric fence to keep
them at bay.
Another
and even more serious problem for the raccoon is that it’s a potential
carrier of rabies. The fact that the animal is so widespread assures its
increasing contact with humans and their pets. It’s never a wise idea to
attempt to pet a raccoon or any other wild animal, for to do so risks a
bite or a scratch that could transmit rabies, a disease that is deadly
unless treated in time.
Today,
however, with little or no pressure from either hunting or trapping the
little brother of the bear is still faring very well. There are huge corn
crops and other food sources available in the entire eastern United
States, and the intelligent "washer," as his Latin species name,
lotor, implies, will be seen more and more often along roadways,
waterways, and in corn fields.
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