Critter vs Strobe

Long story short, the other night I came home in the dark to find a raccoon enjoying the spilled bird food remains.

As I pulled my car into the garage, the raccoon scampered away, but not too far from the food he was noming.

This meant that the act of simply getting into the house would put myself between the critter and the food.

With each step I took nearer the house, the little bandit took a step closer to me.

Out came my NiteCore D10 on high. All the beam did was make the little guy's eyes glow eerie red. So, two quick presses were used to get to strobe mode.

The little guy quickly ran off across my yard and I then felt comfortable enough to proceed into my house; all the while keeping my D10 on high - to keep an eye out for critters.

I have a suckerfish in my aquarium that likes to suck on my turtle's back and the turtle doesn't want anything to do with it, so I use strobe to get him to back off. It works wonders.

TK35 always goes with me at night in case something creeps me out. Anymore you never know if a raccoon might be rabid.

Rich

richpalm said:

TK35 always goes with me at night in case something creeps me out. Anymore you never know if a raccoon might be rabid.

Rich

Click to expand...

While true that coons are known to be rather common carriers of rabies in the USA, two things set them apart: 1) rabid coons don't tend to get aggressive like dogs do when infected by rabies, and are more likely to retreat into isolation as opposed to 'attacking' a person, and 2) if memory serves me correctly, I believe there has only ever been a couple of fatalities ever reported in the USA due to infections transmitted by rabid raccoons.

In short, there's just not that much to worry about.

HOWEVER, I believe that distemper--another very common ailment in coons--CAN create aggressive behavior in raccoons, and because it carries some of the same symptoms as what we would expect in a rabid dog, is commonly mis-reported. I have encountered a couple of coos with distemper, and they tend to be pretty testy.

Now using a strobe on a coon, that's a new one for me. I'll have to give that one a shot next time I encounter one. I've actually wondered what the impact of 'critters' would be. I do know that I had a rotweiller approach me rather rapidly a few weeks back, and stopped within a few feet barking aggressively. When I hit my T20C2 MKII with the strobe, it didn't really seem to phase him at all. I walked slowly away and he stood his ground barking but didn't approach any closer. The light itself didn't seem to bother it, though.

All it would take would be one failed attempt with the strobe on a Rotweiller and I'd be carrying a Great Sword on my walks.
Scary stuff.
I see a real market for whoever comes up with the magic Hz or color combination or whatever it takes to make an animal back off.
Have a control dial with icons of different animals on it if there's not one magic solution.
Maybe they can find a pattern/freq/color combo that will do something like a DDoS on the optic nerve or visual cortex.

I've flashed and strobed raccoons a lot. Never saw one intimidated by it. Oh they'll pause, but they're not scared of light. Audible gesticulations and physical demonstration of dominance does tend to work - your mileage may vary...

I've never seen that light bothered a raccoon, either. Usually I'll leave them alone if they're just cleaning up the birdseed, but if they get in the feeders I'll just clap my hands and they run (faster than you might imagine). Once, back when I used to feed them cheap dog food I found one laying on the ground in the area they were fed. It was alive, but not moving. The next day it was dead. I took it to the animal disease lab where I used to work, and, like indychris pointed out, it was diagnosed with distemper. Now, if I could catch the deer that have destroyed much of my garden I might try more than just a flashlight.

Geoff

I was walking my dog the other night and ran across two small skunks right in the path that we typically take. I tried to give them a wide birth hoping they would wander off, but to no avail...so I half-pressed my Thrunite Neutron 1C to strobe....and nothing. Turned the 1C on max and nothing.

Critters are why I carry two lights and a pocket full of stones. One or two stones whizzing close to them sends them on their way. Even deer will just stand & stare why illuminated [which is why "jacking" deer is illegal...