Clearly, I have underestimated my foe in the past, but no longer.  I have tried to meet him on his battlefield: creature versus creature.  This is foolish for he is clearly a better creature than I, a human, who because of civilization am separated somewhat from the mad scrabble of wilderness and the required base cunning it engenders.

This was a mistake.  To win, I must use skills he presumably does not have but I possess: Skills of technology and science.

I have modified the animal trap so that it no longer matters how delicate his touch is when reaching over the pressure plate to grab the food.  It no longer matters whether or not he can use some sort of raccoon magic to float through the air to secure the prize without triggering the door, because I am now using COMPUTERS.

I’ve attached a camera that looks down into the cage and am monitoring it with Yawcam, a program that can perform actions when motion is detected within a specific area.

When the raccoon enters the cage, the motion will cause it to execute a program that uses a electromechanical servo to trigger the pressure plate manually, trapping this furred bandit so I can take him elsewhere.

I also now have a camera set up to capture the grand event, recording with my Microsoft LifeCam.  The end of his revolution, friends, WILL be televised.  View the attached video to see the setup if any of this is unclear.

I set the trap last night, but when I woke up, it looks to have been triggered by one of my goddamn cats walking past the lamp and changing the light level JUST ENOUGH to set it off.  I’ll play around with the lights to avoid a recurrence of this tonight, but I anticipate success in the near future, barring other interference from my GODDAMN CATS.

This raccoon has become my furry white whale, I know, but from hells heart I promise I _will_ catch it.