Ok, so I can't figure this out but maybe one of you can. Here's the facts.
We have 2 recoons living in our attic. I know, because I used a trail-cam to get pictures of them. Racoons can be destructive so they have to go. I don't want to hurt them so I bought a humane trap so I can catch and release them far away. The trap arrived yesterday and I placed it on our back patio (see image, which shows the trap where I left it). I set the trap, tested it, reset it, put a piece of banana and a cookie in the trap and left it over night. To my surprise, this morning when I looked out the trap was not on the patio. I looked around and it had moved all the way over beside the deck in front of my workshop, which is about 50 feet (The red rectangle in the pic shows where I found the trap.). The trap was sprung, banana still there but the cookie gone. So, what happened? Here are a few more facts than might help you figure it out. Our back yard in completely fenced in and nothing bigger than a possum can get under the fence. So that means no large dog like I suspected. The only gate to the back yard was closed and latched from the outside. The trap is fairly heavy and I don't think a small animal could move it, especially so far. There should not have been any people in our yard at that time.
Why was the trap moved? Why was it sprung but no critter inside? Why was the cookie taken but not the banana? How did something big enough to move the trap get in the yard? What the hell was going on in my back yard last night?
Any ideas?
We have 2 recoons living in our attic. I know, because I used a trail-cam to get pictures of them. Racoons can be destructive so they have to go. I don't want to hurt them so I bought a humane trap so I can catch and release them far away. The trap arrived yesterday and I placed it on our back patio (see image, which shows the trap where I left it). I set the trap, tested it, reset it, put a piece of banana and a cookie in the trap and left it over night. To my surprise, this morning when I looked out the trap was not on the patio. I looked around and it had moved all the way over beside the deck in front of my workshop, which is about 50 feet (The red rectangle in the pic shows where I found the trap.). The trap was sprung, banana still there but the cookie gone. So, what happened? Here are a few more facts than might help you figure it out. Our back yard in completely fenced in and nothing bigger than a possum can get under the fence. So that means no large dog like I suspected. The only gate to the back yard was closed and latched from the outside. The trap is fairly heavy and I don't think a small animal could move it, especially so far. There should not have been any people in our yard at that time.
Why was the trap moved? Why was it sprung but no critter inside? Why was the cookie taken but not the banana? How did something big enough to move the trap get in the yard? What the hell was going on in my back yard last night?
Any ideas?