What Kind of Poop is That in My Yard?
We recently took a call from a person concerned about stinky piles of poop in her yard. She wanted to know if we could come and catch the offender because she found it so annoying.
Asking her about the pooh, she described it as “very smelly”, not very “solid”, “brown” and placed in an almost a “nest” of tamped down grass.
Based on this description, we informed her the offender is a cat. She said that made sense as a neighbor has one that roams and she has seen it in the yard.
She wanted to make sure if wasn’t raccoon poop
We informed her that raccoon poop is often grouped in a pile with multiple droppings as they use the same areas on a consistent basis; a raccoon toilet if you will. Raccoon pooh often reflects what was eaten, often some type of berry. It is more often than not in longer pieces.
For example, here is a picture of a raccoon “toilet” on a roof. Often, their pooping spots are found on roofs, logs, or at the base of a tree, rather than randomly through a yard. This is not a hard and fast rule, as those are difficult to come by in nature.
She wanted to make sure it wasn’t groundhog poop.
We informed her that groundhogs usually poop underground, in their tunnel system and therefore is often not encountered randomly in the yard.
The Resolution of the Pooh Problem in Akron, Ohio
By identifying this pooh as house cat (not raccoon or groundhog) we told her we would not be able to trap it, as we don’t do house cats. We suggested she talk to the neighbors first about their cat before trying to trap it herself. Often times, discussion can lead to litter boxes being placed by the owners.
We also try to discourage generalized outdoor trapping based solely upon the finding of poop in one’s backyard. Having a professional nuisance wildlife company trap outdoor areas for roaming animals is costly for the customer and not all that effective. We can catch an animal of some sort in virtually every back yard in the Akron/Canton, OH area if the traps are in place for a little while. Skunks, raccoons, groundhogs, opossums, squirrels, etc.; they are near all of us more often than we think. The true solution is figuring out what the attraction to the back yard is and trying to remove it.
