Trapping them in a cage trap and hauling them down to the creek works, but they tend to come in groups which makes dealing with one at a time hard (they hang around the trap squalling all night if one of them gets into it). I also don’t want to take a chance on relocating one that might have babies tucked away around here.

I’m patient. I’ll see what the camera shows me. Hell, maybe it’s possums, but I don’t think possums poke around pond bottoms. When I have a better line on things, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll set up the squirter again. There are electric one-wire fences designed to repel dogs, but I don’t know what would happen if a raccoon with one leg in the water hit one. I’ll figure something out.

I gave up putting large fish in my pond a long time ago, and the tiny mosquito fish who live there aren’t of interest to anything. I never got a real Koi anyway. Just picked up feeder goldfish for a few cents at the pet store.

We live in the woods among the foothills of the Cascades. We’ve had bobcats after our chickens and rabbits mowing down the garden. And not unlike you, blue herons and a few raccoons trying to feast on our Koi.

After we got “Maggie” all these critters stopped coming around, ‘cept the black bear that dropped in to eat the bird seed under the feeder. I had to chase that one off. Her bark is worse than her bite which is what you want.

Short of a dog, if possible increase the depth of your pond to 3-4′ and steepen the sides. It would be worth the cost of a new liner plus you can use the dirt to landscape around the pond.

For the cat I recommend a Red Ryder…

Import coyotes. Two. Turn ‘em loose, and you’ll see the raccoon population dwindle fast. As well as that pesky cat. And when the stray cats, dogs and raccoons are gone, the coyotes drift away.

That’s my neighborhood. Y’see, the coyotes can’t live with the raccoons, they eat them faster than they propagate, but also can’t live without ‘em.

Your neighbors are a bit squeamish, uncomfortable with coyotes? Work with them. Wolves might do, too, as well as maybe bobcats, pumas, pythons, anacondas, and boa constrictors. Croco-gators are fantastic. A mix of those.

Your neighbor can’t go along with that, they’re just unreasonable. It’s a free country, get anything you want. You can’t help it if it strays off of your property. Your Mark 1 python can get under most fences. And the bobcat’s and pumas over them. Way it goes.