Raccoon: The Other Dark Meat

Natural foods, unprocessed and untouched by modern production methods, are all the rage nowadays. This could prove to be the perfect food for urban locavores intent on harvesting a reliable source of wild game.

Some excerpts from an article in The Kansas City Star:

"Raccoon, which made the first edition of The Joy of Cooking in 1931, is labor-intensive but well worth the time, aficionados say. Raccoons go for $3 to $7 — each, not per pound — and will feed about five adults. Four, if they’re really hungry. Those who dine on raccoon meat sound the same refrain: It’s good eatin’.

As long as you can get past the “ick” factor that it’s a varmint, more often seen flattened on asphalt than featured on a restaurant menu. (One exception: French restaurant Le Fou Frog served raccoon about a dozen years ago, a waiter said.) Eating varmints is even in vogue these days, at least in Britain. The New York Times reported last week that Brits are eating squirrels with wild abandon.

“Raccoon meat is some of the healthiest meat you can eat,” says Jeff Beringer, a furbearer resource biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation. “During grad school, my roommate and I ate 32 coons one winter. It was all free, and it was really good. If you think about being green and eating organically, raccoon meat is the ultimate organic food,” with no steroids, no antibiotics, no growth hormones.

And when people eat wild meat, Beringer says, “it reminds the modernized society — people who usually eat food from a plastic wrapper — where food comes from."

In Ohio, raccoon season ends on the last day of January, and there's no daily bag limit, so get 'em while the gettin's good. You'll need a valid hunting or trapping license unless you're having problem raccoon interactions with your pets, or are eradicating dangerous raccoons from your dwelling.

The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources says, "Raccoons are well adapted to urban living. Raccoon damage typically involves raiding gardens, upsetting trash cans and taking up residence in chimneys, attics or other unwanted areas. Control is not difficult, but requires persistence.

Nuisance or sick raccoons may be trapped without a permit, but it is illegal to live trap and relocate them to a new area. In order to prevent the possible spread of raccoon diseases in Ohio, all live trapped raccoons must be released again on the homeowner's property or humanely euthanized."

Once that's done, you'll find some tasty raccoon recipes here. Or head down to the Mercantile Library and see if they have a first edition of "The Joy of Cooking".

Bedbug Comeback Needs DDT

Here is an editorial from a Conservative Ohio group that argues that stonger chemicals should be allowed to be used to combat bedbugs. They are a growing problem in Cincinnati and I have been wondering why we don't have better pesticides at our disposal. Too bad this article is just an opinion with no facts or links.

There are several good websites and blogs out there about how to defeat bedbugs. None that I read thought that DDT was a good idea. Apparently some bedbugs have developed resistance to DDT anyway.

Also: Saw an article about a dog that can sniff-out the hard-to-find critters.

Dead Animals

Nature can be easily found in the city, and not just plant life. On any given day in town, we will can see animals such as squirrels, possum, earthworms, insects, horses, fish, birds, as well as dogs and cats. We even had a problem with raccoons for a while here. Unfortunately there are also rats, which at night can sometimes be seen scurrying from storm drain to sewer drain.

Growing up, I remember seeing dead animals many times. For example, I remember seeing a frozen cat disappear into the dirt as spring started. It is part of learning about the cycles of life. I also remember seeing maggots for the first time in my life on a dead mole.

Below is a photo of a dead rat, found at the edge of the Findlay Market Playground. My son looked for a few seconds, then shrugged his shoulders and ran back to play.

 

The fact that today is election day is pure coincidence.