squirrels, racoons and possoms- oh my

on our back deck is where we sometimes place our trash temporarily until we can get it out to the trash can. if we leave out it for too long late at night or over night, it gets torn apart by animals. at first we thought it was the squirrels. but one day john opened the door and saw a racoon doing the dirty work. another time he saw a possom. for some reason, john now feels inclinced to make these animals our adopted pets by deliberately placing food on the deck for them to eat. i know we do this with the squirrels by using crackers. they already come up to our door on a daily basis waiting for us to throw out some crackers. but with the racoon and possom, it just seems a little weird. tonight john put a whole chicken carcass out on some cardboard and kept checking out back to see if the animals would come to pick at it. with camera in hand, the last time he checked the chicken carcass was gone. before we could see them, they took the food and ran away. so john now has left over pizza and soup on the cardboard and keeps checking out back... even as i type this blog.