Last week was a busy week for mammals in our yard.
Young rabbits seemed to eat often.
The groundhog still thought the barn was for her and her one young.
Foxes moved in and considered the barn theirs. The groundhogs took the north side and the foxes the south. They all left after two days of that.
A young squirrel walked out into the back back of our yard. It was too far for a picture.
Then yesterday …..
It got exciting around here.
I opened the front door and heard the “huffing” sound of a mad or injured animal. I couldn’t see it because it was in the narrow space between the two steps and the side of the house. The ferocious sounds convinced me to stay in and keep Buffy in. The angle wasn’t right to see anything from the kitchen window. My husband got home, checked the critter. I called the sheriff department, who called animal control, who came out immediately.
He and my husband got it into a cage.
A young otter! It was MAD!
(And I’m sure scared).
I got a good look at its mouth full of sharp pointed teeth. That and its vicious noises and attitude, convinced me to keep the storm door between me and it, even though it was caged. It could have squeezed through one side of the door where it was bent.
That definitely added excitement to our afternoon!
Posted by centralohionature on June 1, 2014 at 6:37 am
Great post! You must have a river nearby.
Posted by naturesnippets on June 1, 2014 at 6:46 am
Thanks. We don’t have any rivers close. There’s streams and lakes. I had an albino otter in the yard a couple of years ago. It was headed west. My son says their numbers are increasing.
Posted by caleephotography on June 1, 2014 at 7:05 am
Wow, Lots of action in your yard! 🙂
Posted by naturesnippets on June 1, 2014 at 7:19 am
It sure has been interesting. We have several areas with dense growth that provide habitat.
Posted by naturesnippets on June 1, 2014 at 10:16 am
It has been exciting.
Posted by epov88 on June 1, 2014 at 8:27 am
How did you attract the groundhog ?
Posted by naturesnippets on June 1, 2014 at 10:18 am
We didn’t. It just moved in under the barn. I think it also has a den in the old strip pit behind our house. They also tunnel a lot. Our barn is an old one and I’d prefer no more tunneling under it.
Posted by New Hampshire Garden Solutions on June 1, 2014 at 6:17 pm
I’m surprised any of them hang around with that fox so close. I wonder how the otter got so confused, Out looking for a new body of water maybe?
Posted by naturesnippets on June 1, 2014 at 7:42 pm
I wondered if the otter was big enough to be on its own yet. Now that I think about it, it’s my 3rd otter encounter.It was obvious that one could do a lot of bodily damage!
Posted by Ed on June 3, 2014 at 5:04 am
Thats a busy week, where did the otter come from? 🙂
Posted by naturesnippets on June 3, 2014 at 12:52 pm
Have no idea where the otter came from. I wondered it if was old enough to be on its own. A partial albino one went through the yard summer before last. It and this one must have been looking for new water to live in/by.