See this picture? Turns out this wee little beasty found her way into my attic a couple of weeks ago. I could never get close enough to see it in person, so always presumed by the amount of noise at 3am, that it was a large elephant, or a horse, or at best, a possum. I really just thought it was a large rat, so I had thrown some bait up there trying to kill it.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks of the rat poison not working, I hired an exterminator (Orkin) who said they couldn’t do anything about it. Then, I hired a trapping service.

The picture you see was the cutest damned animal I had ever seen in my life. I’d never even seen a raccoon in my area… Ever.

This is where the bad comes in.. When all the noise and racket was going on in the attic, I was expecting this ferocious beast, rabid teeth and claws, that sort of thing. When the trapper (who caught it first night) got her and brought her out of the attic, she was literally asleep in her cage.

After discussing it with the trapper, it turns out that Alabama state (or Huntsville city) law requires — without regards to the animal’s well-being — that the animal be put down, due to fear of rabies.

This animal did not have rabies. Her only crime was trying to stay warm on a winter night. My crime was that I didn’t realize the consequence of my actions. Though the trapping service did their job well, I will never again use any trapping service. I simply do not agree with their rules. I am not a bleeding heart liberal. This just broke my heart.