Wascaly Waccoon

This young mother has been terrorizing my cat for the past month or so. At one point I thought I had the park ranger down the street convinced to come and trap her, but he never did. Tonight she made the mistake of wandering into our yard while we were outside working. The kids were in bed, it was almost dusk and I guess she felt safe. Wrong. Justin went after her with rocks first, then the hose on full blast. She was a fast climber though and quickly got out of reach. We had her up in that tree for an hour or more. I caught these pictures when she thought it was safe to come down again. For some reason raccoons don't pose like kids do for the camera. (Or maybe they do, that might explain some of my pictures.)

So, short of shooting her (which we won't do), or threatening her with the pressure cooker (thanks Joe, for that idea) how do we convince her she needs to stay out of our yard? She has babies somewhere, and I am pretty sure they aren't in my yard. I don't want them here either. My cat has enough stress dealing with a two year old who has discovered scissors.

Go away raccoon. Find another yard to wander through.