PSA: My bottle gourd scarecrow from last month attracted raccoons instead of scaring them

Three years ago I made a weird scarecrow out of a mutant bottle gourd shaped like a face in my backyard in Tulsa, and last week I found raccoons having a party around it at 2 AM. They didn't just ignore it, they actually ripped the gourd off the post and started eating it. Has anyone else had a garden decoration backfire and attract critters instead of keeping them away?

2 comments

2 Comments

roses6922d ago

Three years ago I noticed this same thing happening with those reflective bird tape people put on fruit trees. The deer in my neighborhood started rubbing against the poles the tape was wrapped around because the shiny caught their eye. Seems like any garden decoration that moves or has a weird shape just ends up being a curiosity for animals instead of a warning. They're smarter than we give them credit for and they figure out real fast that a weird gourd isn't a threat.

avery_foster3122d ago

Man, that's wild but honestly not surprising at all. @roses69 nailed it with that deer and reflective tape story. I read somewhere that raccoons actually have a really strong memory for where they find food and they'll come back to check weird objects over and over just in case. Sounds like your gourd just looked like a giant fruit to them, not a threat. Animals figure out patterns fast, especially when food is involved.