Wildlife does not relocate well. Raccoon have established territory and they know their food sources. It is wrong and cruel to relocate them. It is also against the law in some states (like NJ).

You think you've gotten rid of the possums and skunks? Killing and/or relocating wildlife merely opens up territory to other wildlife. Doesn't work in the long run. Best way to aviod wildlife is to move into the city, where the streets are concrete canyons, and only the rats and pigeons are left.

Good luck with your pond.

Ditto Elly - you may relocate some critters, but new ones will just move in, especially if you're offering tasty fish treats. No way your territory will stay vacant long. Just stick feeder fish in and enjoy the wildlife, because this is one case where you can't beat them and might as well join them. Good luck.

There must be a way to set up your pond so that the fish have some sort of shelter from predators. Maybe some large rocks, too heavy for the 'coons to move, could be strategically placed.

I would suggest going over to the "pond and aquatic plants" forum, they have lots of experience with these things.
Lisa

Well, I think I have experience as a wildlife rehabilitator with wildlife rehabilitator friends who know the natural history of the mammals they treat and the laws.

Many people on this forum and others may jump at relocating or killing animals, and that may be their experience, but it doesn't make it right.

From the Guelph Humane Society web site:

Live Trapping

Although live trapping and relocating has been widely used as a method of wildlife control, it can be inhumane as the animals may suffer severe injury and sometimes death in their attempts to escape. It is not a long-term solution. Most wild animals are territorial, so relocating them somewhere else will not only fail to solve local problems, but often creates new problems at the release site by upsetting the natural balance of existing populations. The resident raccoons may attack and sometimes kill relocated raccoons to defend their territory. Studies done by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources have shown that 60% of relocated raccoons do not survive. Relocation also facilitates the spread of disease from one area to another.

From the Portland Humane Society:

Relocation is inhumane: Although many people perceive relocation as a humane approach to resolving conflicts, it is in fact just the opposite. Relocated raccoons have to fight with already established raccoons for territory, food and shelter. Many raccoons do not survive relocation and those that do disrupt already established populations. Relocated raccoon kits are almost always abandoned as it is near impossible for a mother to carry and care for her young while also establishing herself in a new territory.

Here is a link that might be useful: Preventing raccoon problems

I wish to thank those that have responded to this post. I have come to a few conclusions:
Raccoons are going to be here. Precautions can be made to attempt to limit any raiding they may do on the pond. I like to rock idea, though. I shouldn't get too attached to any of the feeders I put in, they probably will not be there forever. Just think, might even get something I don't expect - an egret. They have them in the L.A. River which is only about a mile away........
If relocating them was improper, it was done in ignorance. I will say the last one I trapped was an adult and it surprised me to know they can growl like a dog. The trap I used was a humane trap. If I had called the city to remove it or taken it to a shelter, the raccoon would have put to sleep.
Still have not seen a possum or a skunk in months. Being a city boy, the following story might humor some of you. The
first skunk I caught might have gotten a little scared when I relocated it - it spayed a little when I took it out of the trunk. It was on the weekend, no big deal, just shower, wash clothes and the smell in the trunk went away soon thereafter. The last one I relocated was on a workday about 6:00 in the morning. I was in my uniform. It sprayed the second I lifted the trap up. I figured I was okay, it didn't spray me directly. I went into work and almost has to be escorted of the workroom floor. I even changed into a brand new uniform that had just come in the day prior and still smelled like skunk. My new name is "Pepe Le Pue" and I took the strangest showers ever, with plenty of tomato juice and peroxide. Score one for the skunk.

he he - nice skunk story!

Regarding the pond.... I've found that racoons are VERY successful at cleaning out goldfish, even in a deep pond with plenty of plants and rocks to shelter under, but like you said they were originally 'feeder' fish so I feel like I gave them a good run for their money. Some were three years old and there (were) many offspring over the years.

I ended up putting that green wire mesh (~4 inch squares) over the surface.... it didn't look good but worked. If I did it again I would build the edges of the pond high enough - maybe stones stacked around the edges or use bigger rocks - so that the racoons couldn't sit on the edge and reach down into the pond to do their fishing. Maybe if two or three sides of the pond were protected like that the fish would stand a chance.

PS, I saw a skunk in the yard last fall and was very excited. He was very handsome with his bright white stripe.

The aesthetics of the pond are more important than a dollar worth of fish, I am not going to net it. Also, it seems I have had a snail attack on some of my plants. I don't believe it is reasonable to believe night time critters would get them all, but maybe keep the population of snails in check.

I'm not sure how effective with a determined racoon, but Contech's Scarecrow works great for deer, cats, dog, heron.
I can't leave mine attached in winter here for fear of a freezing garden hose, but I doubt that's a problem for you in Z10.

Once you've watched the video and done the reading, shop. They can be found cheaper than the $89 and Contech will still faithfully stand behind their warranty.

Here is a link that might be useful: Scarecrow

I have goldfish in my pond and raccoons. No problem, I used feeder goldfish and they have done really well. They are really large now and beautiful. The snails didn't fair as well, they disappeared the first night.
Martha

I have tons of raccoons and they have never taken a fish to my knowledge, and they use and frequent my ponds nightly. I believe the key is to have steep deep sides.

The only thing that I have against the raccoons is they eat snakes, and they do not discriminate between the snakes I like, and snakes that eat my koi. Well, actually I think they may like the ones that don't eat my koi and avoid the ones that do, because of their smelly defense mechanism.

All in all coons are great inquisitve creatures. I love whenever they stand up on their hind legs. It still gives me a thrill every time I see them do this.

I would love to have little wild critters in our back yard, unfortunately we live in the city.
So imagine my surprise when a raccoon was on our back porch
one summer night! Only saw him once, no idea where he came from or went to.
Then we had a possum! I always have dry cat food out for the stray cats & found out that possums love it!
I was so excited! He hung around until last February then I think one of the stray cats was getting too nasty to deal with. I named him Pete. I had a little shelter set up on our back porch for the strays & used a covered litter box as a house (was never used as a litter box) We had a pillow & some towels in it. One really cold, rainy night
I went out to check to see if any cats were out there & to my surprise guess who was in the little house, Pete the possum! Too funny. I still look for him, but it has been almost a year now. I just hope he(or she) found a mate & is living someplace safe!
Possums are good at eating all that stuff we don't like, slugs, rats, mice etc.

Blah Blah Blah Blah - I live in the Hollywood Hills and have had Raccoons coming out my yin yang for years UNTIL I discovered pure Coyotee PEE on the internet. You just put some on a pad every other day or so, and place it around the pond. It repels the Raccoons, rats, mice and CATS! Yippee! Finally - something that works! For the people telling you to move to the city - not only do I find that rude, but just foolish banter! Best of luck to you and your Koi! Let us know how it works out for you!

Pepe le Pew, uh I mean Borrego - hehe - I can't comment on the pond, but you can mount your bird feeders to prevent the raccoons from getting to them. Mine are pole-mounted with squirrel/raccoon baffles, which keeps the chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, etc. from getting up to the feeders. They work well!

empireman - yours is the best idea I have read here yet! I have something killing my young chickens and this morning we caught a coon in there. We don't know how it got in because we sealed it up thinking we were dealing with a mink. Apparently we didn't do a good job if a coon can get in though. We are going to try your idea to see if we can keep our chickens alive.

Somewhere on gardenweb, I recently saw lots of ideas for helping fish hide in a pond. I'm sorry I forget what forum now, but you can search here. There were ideas like weight a big PVC pipe in the bottom (can get black if you don't want to see it, which I assume you wouldn't!) and lots of fish can hide in it. Put water plants in the middle of the pond for fish to hide under. There are ways to make the pond have drop-offs so the raccoons won't go in the deep water but the fish can dive deeper to get away. Someone said they don't like unstable ledges because they know they could fall in the water, so if you put unstable flat rocks around the pond, that could help.

We have lots of coons around here (and egrets, herons) but some neighbors are still able to keep koi ponds. They must be giving the koi natural ways to hide.

Realize this replay is to an older post but it may help some frustrated soul out there. After loosing boo koo bucks worth of Koi I put a hot wire around my pond with an off/on switch, my pond is in a gated yard so children don't have access. Didn't need to deal with wild life they still come and go but leave my pond and fish alone.