Racoons have invaded our pond!

Good luck ♥ We've had raccoon visitors during the night in my back yard several times over the years. They would catch the koi in my pond. Now it would be different if they would eat them, but they would just play with them and leave them all over the yard. I've tried animal control in our area, they said they wouldn't help us, but to get a Havahart trap, then release them at least 100 miles away because they travel that and more. An exterminator was way too expensive. Had a trap, tried, could never catch them...tried sardines, marshmallows, tuna, canned cat food and more. I devoured the web for info on how to get them to go. Tried criss crossing fishing line throughout the back yard, raccoon's didn't mind it, the dogs hated it. Lit the backyard up like a runway – didn't phase them, Human hair, human urine, could have cared less about either, Tried "The Scarecrow" motion detector that hooks to the hose and sprays when it senses motion. Raccoon's loved it,Dogs were scared of it and refused to go out during the day even when it was off. Tried coyote urine, didn't phase the coons one bit. Tried little red flashing lights around the perimeter of the yard, raccoon's didn't notice them. Summer came and they stopped coming. We had no birdseed out for the wild birds, no dog food out, nothing. They came back the following winter and brought friends. Tried everything again to no avail. Got up one morning and they were still here! They were usually gone by then. One of my dogs slipped....pushed by me as I was trying to shoo them away. She was a Great Dane....they took her down. Now I love all animals, but don't come to my place and mess with mine. My sons stayed up the following night, shot 2 of them. They haven't been back since. It was horrid, the screams my poor dog let out as they were biting her. Please be careful. I wouldn't attempt to even catch it, You have to pick up that wire cage after all!. They are fierce and will bite. Be careful please.

Lately we have had feral cats and I borrowed a metal cage from a friend with the purpose of catching some of these cats and have them taken in by the county to be in their SNAP program. I was so happy we caught and kept 2 of these kitties, they will let us feed them but will get no closer than 5' and that's ok. We had seen 2-3 other ferals and set up the cage again and caught 3 and they were taken in and released. The cage was set up overnight and lo and behold a massive old raccoon was in it. Dry cat food was the draw. Took it 5 miles away to a marshy area and released, no agency will touch a trapped raccoon, other than pay for services animal control companies. Subsequently we caught 2 more and released them in the same way. Some little boys about 10-12 years old wanted to take #2 home, we said, get back. Can you see the faces of their parents if they brought home a wild raccoon?

I learned to not set up a cage at night when they are out.

It seems the best answer to your raccoon predators is to have the pond surrounded by spiky tips pointing upward, they would need to be several feet across to be a sufficient deterrent. There was a man on Shark Tank who was trying to get money for his invention to do just that.Unfortunately the panel decided not to invest for a variety of reasons for as many purposes...like around pools, gardens, someone might get hurt. And not cost effective.

Here is a link to Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Raccoon-Deterrent-Critter-Pricker-connectable/dp/B0714PYBNJ