Raccoon Salad Bar

In the backyard, there is a little pond with a fountain that we weren't in love with. When we bought the house, I had a crazy plan in my head to build a conservatory around the pond and make it something of an indoor/outdoor entertaining space. I had been expecting a greenhouse at the house we almost bought and that dream was still in my mind when we bought this one. Luckily, I was talked out of the idea and for the entire time we were working on the inside of the house, we kind ignored the little pond as it got greener and greener. I ran the fountain and auxiliary pump every one in a while to keep it aerated, but when the weather started getting nice in April, I threw in some barley hay which is supposed to act as a flocculant and clear the water. It took a while, but one afternoon, I was looking out the bedroom window and did a double take when I realized I could see the bottom of the pond. Somehow the pond had turned crystal clear overnight. it was likely a combination of the hay and an algae crash due to lack of nutrients in the water.
With the water clear, we decided that having a little pond was kind of nice, and committed to at least a year of pond ownership and maintenance. To help keep the pond clear, I bought a pack of water plants: parrots feather, water hyacinth, and water lettuce. Little did we know, the local raccoons seem to be vegetarians, and pond plants rank pretty high on their list of favorites.
The first victims were the water lettuce. In the mornings, I would notice a leaf or two of the plant by the side of the pond, and nothing else to show it had ever been there. We assumed the cats were messing about in the water as they like to hang around the pond and drink from it. By the end of the first week, the water lettuce was completely gone. In the interim, I purchased some foam lily pads and flowers to add shade to the pond, hoping that the cats wouldn't like the taste of foam and leave them alone. The plant attacks seemed to mellow out, so we decided it was time to add some fish to the pond. We didn't take any pictures, but we bought 6 feeder goldfish from petsmart (they get shipments on Tuesdays, and are out by Wednesday) and added them in carefully. While they were in the bag, acclimating to the water, the local bluejay family decided to sit by the pond's edge and stare at the bag, or rather the packed lunch right in front of them. Not a good sign.
Nevertheless, the fish went in and at last count, all are present and accounted for: a real surprise when you consider the number of predators that would love a tasty snack that smiles back. No, the pond residents with a target on their backs are the water hyacinths. Once the fish went in, I started noticing a number of hyacinths tossed on the grass with large bites taken out of them. I tossed them back in, but you can only bite each plant in half so many times before there aren't any halves left. I started second guessing the cats as my prime suspects: water hyacinths are poisonous to cats and I couldn't imagine they would keep coming back for more after getting sick a couple of times. A quick google identified a much more likely suspect: Procyon lotor, the furry little masked banditos that plague all pond owners.
One way or the other, the pond was loosing plant cover, fast, and I needed a quick fix: I would deal with the 'rat'coons later. I ordered a huge bundle of water hyacinths and some duckweed, hoping that duckweed's aggressive growth would help make up for hyacinth attrition. No dice. One morning I woke up and found the yard strewn with the shredded remains of most of the hyacinths in the pond. Not pretty. Enough was enough, so I bought a trail cam and caught the buggers in the act:

 

 Two things to take note of: first, that's a big raccoon; and second, it's a raccoon family and the problem isn't going to go away by itself.

Next up, lets build an electric fence!