Guests in shed are now tenants
- Laura Moore: Housebroken
- February 7, 2023
- 559
We have had our suspicions, but now we know our shed is providing shelter for various creatures.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a rather large cat crawl out from under that shed as I approached with a box of holiday decorations to store. A few days later, I witnessed a rabbit slip out and bound away across our yard. Taller Half told me he is sure he saw several small critters scamper off when he approached the shed. After one of our bird feeders disappeared, a neighbor told us she saw a raccoon diving under our shed, clutching that same bird feeder (but no bird).
As long as these creatures do no damage to our little storage place, they are welcome to make their home there. It can’t be a warm space, but it does offer protection from the wind, rain and snow. It is interesting creatures that normally avoid each other can co-habitate. But if I were a mouse or a bunny, I’d be very wary of sharing a living space with a cat. Perhaps they have reached some sort of agreement to get along.
Taller Half has taken to sharing any food scraps left over from our meals with our tenants. He just drops the scraps by the shed in the evenings, and the next morning those scraps are gone. It seems our modest little building has become a wildlife refuge.
Our dogs get very antsy when they get close to the shed on their walks. We know they can smell the various critters living under there and, of course, vice versa. Our dogs are on the small side. None of the shed tenants we know about are very big, but if they should come in contact, a fracas would ensue. I’m afraid the dogs are a little too domesticated to tangle with any variety of wild animal — in fact, Taller Half and I are as well.