![[0078] Friend And Foe](http://www.sandraandwoo.com/comics/2009-07-20-[0078]-friend-and-foe.png "[0078] Friend And Foe")
The current story arc started with this strip: Summer by the Lakeside.
If you don’t remember him, the other raccoon is Tibor who confronted Woo during the last mating season: Reliable Sources.
This strip is one of my personal favorites so far.
Here is a short story out of the great book “Raccoons: In History, Folklore & Today’s Backyards” by Virginia C. Holmgren about altruistic behavior in raccoons. (The book is filled with interesting facts about the history of raccoons not available anywhere else and is available for cheap at Amazon.com.)
One day when spring was still around that unseen corner, Blacky showed us still another facet of his special personality. Somewhere – probably down by the frog pond – he’d met a scrawny, thin-tail Bachelor Boy who was desperately hungry. Raccoons store excess fat in their tails for emergency rations, and his bone-thin tail was proof no such rations remained. Blacky must have told Boy to come along for an easier meal than frogging, and I just happened to be looking out the west windows as they came up the hill from the frog pond together. I hurried to meet them, bread in hand, but hungry as Boy was, his caution was greater and he dived for the bushes.
Blacky took his own survey for danger and then with a reassuring glance for his new friend came on to take bread from my hand with a thank-you pad – as always. He stayed only long enough to take a nibble to prove his trust and then turned to the bushes with a look that said more plainly than words, See, this is a friend. Come, eat.
Boy took one step but was afraid to come any farther and so I tossed the bread his way and went back inside, hurrying to find a curtained window where I could watch unseen. Boy came out now, Blacky staying beside him while he gulped it all down, and after a stop at the water bowl they went on up the hill. Before long Boy was coming on his own and for a while that thin tail allowed us to tell him from the others with one glance.
- Woo: !
- Tibor: Whew, that was close.
- Woo: Ow, my back!
- Woo: That’s it! Nobody takes away my food and gets away with it! That’s right when the fun stops!
- Tibor: Calm down, young fellow, and have a look.
- Stick: Ouch!
- Woo: {Gulp}
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I had a feeling before I scrolled down a trap would be involved… Poor Woo, his life is about to become a lot less carefree.
I loved the little scrap of story too, Rascal and Frosty were two of my favorite nonfiction books when I was younger. Both dealt with raccoons living with a person.
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Despite everything I must say that this strip leaves one with a warm feeling…
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well… that could have ended bad its nice to know that there still are some NINJAS!!!! in the world… even if they are racoons
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The perspective in the first panel and the action in the 2nd panel- just great.
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I don’t claim to know anything about raccoons, but Tasco’s acting like an alpha. Total bully when it comes to the ladies and his territory, but will look out for ANYONE on his turf otherwise, even the lowest delta. I know that’s wolf/canine pack psychology, but it seems to be Tasco’s modus operandi anyway.
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Oh..wow.. ouch.. that’s what she meant by 100 units.
I like the fact that the stick said Ouch.
Go Tasco.
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I liked your passage from the book. Raccoons are awesome!
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Eeeeep.
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Poor stick.
Anyway, 1 down…99 to go. *gulp*
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Don’t step anywhere! >.>
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Good touch on those traps , better than my guess and love the way you introduced them here , well done !
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…okay you know that’s painful when a stick says OUCH!
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And here I thought it was some superhero raccoon. Tasco certainly looks the part.
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The stick said ouch! I love it! But seriously, a bear trap for a raccoon? Can you say overkill?
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If that is the case, wouldn’t this woman get in trouble for endangering other childern and adults with those traps, because it doesn’t look like there were any warnings or signs for anyone to see that there are now traps in the forest? Tasco can’t be everywhere and if some child (say hers) is running around and gets there foot caught in the trap, their going to get hurt worse then that bite he received by accident.
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Moochi: The traps are all around food… food for raccoons.
Few children go poking around dead rats…
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Talk about living in a bad neighborhood…
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@unsilenced Pff, thats the first thing kids find and try to play with. Oh well, at least they poke them with sticks.
But yeah, those traps are pretty vicious. The only bright side is that a raccoon trap does little more than hurt a person, and they take some time to kill a coon. Sandra could’ve gotten him out.
Well, depends. Some have uber strong springs that take two people to open if they don’t have the tools. Looks like things are gonna get crazy in these woods.
i love this strip.
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Tasco reminded me of superhero from the DC Universe tackling and telling a young gun to watch out for traps.Plus since he did call him young,he must be abit older than he is.
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I am so grooving on that second panel, very nice!
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I’m going to attempt to use “That’s right when the fun stops” tomorrow in conversation.
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I suppose city boys should bone up on survival knowledge.
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Maybe its the “Mask” but Tasco is totally giving me the “Batman” vibe here haha.
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Ive got a few of those traps in the shed, to bad they are illegal here.
(User was banned for this post.)
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Woo forgot to search for traps. (DND reference)
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Ouch, that banned one deserved it <.<
And ouch, the branch got a line! That shows it MUST hurt!
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Nope, I for one did NOT guess right about what “100 pieces” she was talking about!
Well this was bad. >_>
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I’d say it was the mouse saying “ouch”… which would mean it was still alive. Yech!
If you look closely, in the first panels you can see the trap’s hinge
Pannel 2 made me think Calvin and Hobbes: “I’m Ho-o-o-ome!”
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@ Frank
The mouse would of been long dead, otherwise it wouldnt implode in such a manner.
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Next time on the adventures of SUPER-COON! Same ‘Coon time, same ‘Coon channel!
Sorry, I couldn’t resist, but Tasco does make a good hero in this instance. Has the physique and everything.
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Wow. Close call.
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Panel 2 would read better as “THOOM” and have a more comic-book hero feel to it. And, I don’t know if the warden knows this, but that kind of steel-jaw bear trap has been illegal for quite some time. I hope she gets caught in one herself, though that would be cliche to the max. Still, there is something to be said for poetic justice.
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@ fatscalyman
No kidding. Botched search check, but Tasco makes Woo’s Reflex save for him.
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Most of the raccoons that I’ve caught in live traps were after the peanut butter cracker sandwich used for bait. A friend photographed one raiding her bird feeder.
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hey! stick are people too!
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Oh, that are VERY many english readers…
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Tibor? is that form heroes of might and magic?
No.
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Tibor is awesome, I had a negative idea about him, but I guess he looks out for his own even if it is mating season competition.