Yikes! Mother raccoon and 4 Babies!!!

I was just getting ready for bed when I heard the biggest ruckus outside. It scared the living daylights out of me and with the feral cats out there I ran to check. There was a mother raccoon with 4 babies out there. Four! And she was mad! I threw a cup of water at the mother and they backed off, so I also put some shake-away out there too. A few minutes later I saw them across the street. The worst part is I swear I saw a kitten out there a day ago (Midnight's been hanging around) I need to get rid of these monsters 'yesterday' so please send any tips and advice my way. After having half of the colony and my own personal pet all disappear one night, I will die if something happens to any of the rest of them.
Thanks for any help!
JIL05

Is there a wildlife resource agency near you? Usually you can call and they will bring a trap to catch the raccoon...but it may also trap your feral kittys. The ruckus you heard was probably mom raccoon telling her babys to stay put. They sound like wild dogs fighting when the mom has trouble getting them to listen to her!! I have witnessed this many times with Becky and her broods,(yes I have her named) a resident raccoon that has lived in a tree behind my house, for at least six years now and she brings her babies to my bird feeder every year. My cats will not go near her,nor does she go after them....but that doesn't mean it wouldn't happen! Surely feral cats would teach their kittens to avoid them. If you leave out food for your colony...you are going to have coons around. I don't think there is a lot you could do,other than contacting the agency.

I understand you dont want them there, but before you go crazy at them, remember, they need to survive too, the more people that build houses, the less room they have to live in a forest where they belong.

I'm just saying this because alot of people will kill and poison raccoons and possums just because they dont like them, it's wrong really were invading the animals home you know.

But keep your cats safe too.

Hi Keith P,

I would never harm them...I have had a single raccoon and two babies visit before, but mostly it's one general raccoon that sneaks around. It's just that this is more of a gang and I am worried for the cats safety.

You are 100% right...I live near a highway, near a mall and they have taken alot of the wooded areas down for those apartment complexes! There really is no where for the raccoons to go. (You might know the area being a fellow Long Islander- near the Sunrise Mall).

And if I have kittens out there, I really want to protect them. I saw what a raccoon did to one once, and I never want to see it again.

Oh yes, i've shopped at the sunrise mall, it's about 10 minutes, mabye a bit more from where I live.

By me around the block there is a small forest and they cut a quarter of it down for a soccer field, now we have alot of possums that used to live there, and they found baby raccoons in a tree stump, but luckily they brought them to a place they can stay until they are old enough to live on their own.

And I read hawks will actually eat kittens if they can catch them, that I never knew until recently and we have hawks sometimes but not often.