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by ncr1005 hours ago |
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upvoteby Terr_4 hours ago|
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> claiming Jimothy would want it that way.

You might enjoy this satire [0], lengthily titled: "I’m Jimothy, the Short-Spined Raccoon Who Has Taken the Internet by Storm, and the Collective Weight of Your Adoration Is Breaking My Already-Compromised Back"

[0] https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-jimothy-the-short-spi...

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upvoteby nkrisc1 hours ago|
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Well it also opens passageways for other ground-dwelling animals as well, which is a good thing. I believe in the UK and other places where hedgehogs are native it’s somewhat common for people to cut small holes in their fences so they can get around.

So it’s not really a bad thing, IMO.

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upvoteby Larrikin4 hours ago|
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Are you complaining about people helping a raccoon? The Internet hype is a bit much but why are you framing it like this raccoon should have died years ago.
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upvoteby MichaelZuo3 hours ago|
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What planet are you living on?

Homeowners are generally legally liable for anything that occurs on their property, especially if it can affect neighbouring properties to any provable extent.

There are carveouts and exemptions, but that isn’t a magical deflector shield.

So it doesn’t take a huge imagination to see how it could have negative externalities.

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upvoteby quickthrowman1 hours ago|
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You are allowed to not have a fence at all if you so choose, assuming an HOA isn’t telling you otherwise. Property owners have no liability for wild animals transiting their property. If you are keeping pets and they get out I would assume the homeowner has some liability, but a wild raccoon is not any homeowner’s responsibility.
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upvoteby hbarka4 hours ago|
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God forbid we put out a pan of dry kibbles for a stray cat or a water pan outside for hiking dogs during hot days. That would be “enabling”.
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upvoteby e_i_pi_23 hours ago|
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I do this too, but it's important to make sure you're either fully adopting them to keep them inside and care for medical issues, or at least make sure they get neutered/spayed before they're let out again if they can't live indoors. Stray cats are terrible for the local ecology- just feeding them without taking those steps is definitely harmful. In my town you can call animal control for strays and they'll clip the ears so you can see that they can't reproduce and are safe to leave out.

I'd also be hesitant to give people the idea that racoons are safe to interact with, even stray cats can be dangerous, but racoons can do much more damage. I feel like the ideal situation is they capture him and find an animal sanctuary away from the public. Wild animals with genetic issues don't usually live a great life

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upvoteby Rotdhizon2 hours ago|
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Or you can just toss some food out and call it a day

This ideology that all stray animals need to be siphoned up and neutered on the spot is bizarre to me. Sure there is a balance to be struck as you can't have a hundred thousand cats in a small area, but this idea that stray cats and dogs are simply not allowed to exist and reproduce naturally is insane.

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upvoteby dghlsakjg1 hours ago|
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Have you ever lived in a place where there aren’t effective control efforts?

These programs aren’t about people feeling good about themselves. The middle ground you suggest IS neutering and spaying all the animals you can find. The more extreme end of control is culls. It isn’t something you can ignore without pretty serious second order effects.

It ends up being pretty grim for the animals and sometimes humans too when stray population isn’t controlled. I’m talking about the conditions these animals end up enduring, not the culling which is its own grim process.

As someone who had to help get a stray cat population under control the ugly way (limited budget in a developing country), I would much rather that strays get fixed before it gets there.

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upvoteby annzabelle40 minutes ago|
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I live in New Zealand, where they are big efforts to cull non-native wildlife, including all mammalian predators. There are traplines through the woods here, and I remember seeing a Department of Conservation visitor centre with a diorama of stray cats being killed by a kill trap.

Locally we've got an overpopulation of goats, and apparently they're going to start shooting them from helicopters.

They also drop a poison bait called 1080 that kills mammals from helicopters in remote regions here.

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upvoteby undersuit1 hours ago|
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Domestic cats and dogs are not native to the Americas. They are pets or work animals. The cats should be adopted if possible and made indoor cats or neutered to keep their invasive population down. Dogs too, you need to treat feral dogs as wild and excellent rabies spreaders.
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upvoteby BigTTYGothGF3 hours ago|
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They can take my bird feeders from my cold dead hands.
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upvoteby frantathefranta2 hours ago|
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Feeding stray cats and feeding birds are very different things, pretty much at odds with each other. If a stray cat is fed, birds have a more difficult time surviving.
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upvoteby silisili1 hours ago|
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You do you, but I'd ask in earnest people please don't. Cats are invasive to the US and wreak havoc on local wildlife populations. Where I live, so many people feed the ferals that they've become an overpopulated menace.
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upvoteby Salgat4 hours ago|
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When I lived in Chicago I'd see rats and cats eating cat food left out alongside each other. I'm not against helping wild animals as long as it doesn't come with a rat infestation issue.
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upvoteby asdff3 hours ago|
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It doesn't. You already have a rat infestation issue. This doesn't cause it or further it. You think that little handful of kibble compares to the free calories available in an entire dumpster full of chicago deep dish pizza scrap that sits out in the open air day in day out?
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upvoteby hbarka4 hours ago|
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I know that one. It’s the good ol’ tolerance formula:

Tolerance(A) = { 100% if A ≠ B; 0% if A → B }

Sprinkle on anything to suit your taste.

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upvoteby e_i_pi_23 hours ago|
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This does seem like an unfortunate truth of life, I always want to loan friends money, but can't afford to if they keep not paying me back :/

I also want to put a bird feeder outside a window we have, but I know that'll mean bird poop on a walkway that other people use

Same with some technology, I want to use X because it seems better but I know that'll mean it won't get the same support as Y so we have to use Y

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upvoteby 4 hours ago|
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upvoteby laweijfmvo4 hours ago|
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it’ll probably end up badly, not because someone fed a raccoon, but because someone halfway across the planet will develop an unreasonable relationship with this wild animal.
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