A raccoon died last night, I think. Actually I’m sure many raccoons died last night, globally, but I’m recording events in the backyard of _____ .
That’s where I live. My home is a studio cottage in the garden. It was built as a guest house in 1944.
My cottage is too small for more than one person, but that’s not to say I live alone. The yard, including my roof and underneath the boardwalk leading to my door and the outbuilding I call my office, is home to skunks, opossums, squirrels, raccoons, and insects. Birds and cats visit often. We’re all aware of one another and we co-exist pretty well.
Sometimes the raccoons are pests. I’ve seen herds of them on my skylight, moving like maggots. They are aggressive and sneaky and while their faces are cute, their feet are ugly.
But lately, for the last week or so, I’ve been aware of one raccoon. She looks not young; she seems experienced and not shy. I spotted her on the trellis and heard her on the roof with increasing and abnormal frequency. I started to wonder if she could be ill.
Yesterday the crows got loud. They seemed to increase in population and assertions. I heard them raucous all morning. It struck me: perhaps they sense imminent mortality; perhaps they’re waiting to feast.
Last night the crows continued loud. And the raccoon was around a lot. I heard footsteps on the roof so often that it creeped me out enough to shut my deck door. I saw the animal on my trellis at least half a dozen times.
It must have been 3 or 4 this morning when I woke to the fading squeals of mammalian distress. I thought I might be hearing death.
I’ve been up for over two hours now. I haven’t seen or heard a raccoon or a crow. It reminds me of when a homeless character disappears from the corner where I’ve seen him for what seems like forever. I want the absence to be owing to a good change in fortune but I fear it’s not. And probably, I’ll never know.
Sputterpub's Blog 
Yes, they have territories, I think more so the females than the males. I’ve heard different things about how strongly they defend them. The young ones would be striking out on their own Nov-Dec-ish anyways, so I suppose that would be the time to make their move. (Or, from the other perspective, that’s the time they would be leaving anyways.) Really, it’s better not to move them. Aside from their chances of survival and dumping a problem on someone else… If there’s something about your yard that is attractive to raccoons, it will just be a matter of time until another one moves in. (And if you have developed bad karma in the meantime, it will probably be a rabid chicken-stealing one.) Now that you know a little bit about this bunch, it might be in your interest to figure out what it is they find attractive, and then get rid of it or seal it up or whatever. Looks like in NC you need a “depredation permit” to even trap them UNLESS they are in the act of destroying your property? Kind of like here in Texas it is legal to shoot someone who is stealing your horse. depredation \dep-ruh-DAY-shun\ , noun: 1. An act of plundering or despoiling; a raid. 2. [Plural] Destructive operations; ravages.