Darn Raccoons and More Sighting!

I thought I had the feeding platform raccoon-proof by building walls and a roof over it.  However, a raccoon has found a way to get onto the platform by walking on the tree branch that is touching the right wall:

A fatter raccoon tried that method, but I think he was too heavy to get on the platform.  The tree branch got too low because of his weight for it to have a firm grip on the platform to climb up. However, the smaller one feasted, and afterwards, he used the tree branch to get down as well:

I am really getting sick and tired of these raccoons.  I will need to chop down that tree branch on the right side of the feeding platform.  Hopefully, this minimal cutting would do the trick.  Otherwise, I will have to cut one branch at a time until they find no other means to get onto the platform.

On a different note, I removed the trail camera from Jane's pool side.  For two weeks, only the thinner gray-and-white cat and the usual raccoons came by.  Besides, her grandchildren would be visiting soon, so I was advised to remove the camera.  I am very appreciative of her kindness to let me have the camera at her property for 3 weeks.  Although there was no image of Chai on video, it also meant that Chai is not visiting her property so I can eliminate that area as a possible Chai hang-out.

Calls of Chai sightings have become fewer and farther apart now.  I get maybe one call every other week on average.  On Saturday, KathyH called to let me know that her daughter saw a cat that matches Chai's coloring and wearing a red collar in Burlingame, at the corner of Cabrillo and Carmellita.  I drove there to talk to a neighbor who may also have seen this cat in her property.  When I showed her Chai's pictures, she said the cat that is coming by frequently is fatter and has smaller ears, and does not look like the pictures at all.  I gave her one of my door-hanger flyers since she said she will keep her eye out to see if Chai comes around her area.  It was a bit too far, in my opinion, but at almost 3-months of Chai being out in the "wild", you never know how far she would have traveled.

Deep in my heart, I feel that she is still alive and will return to me on her own.  I try to keep the faith, but it's getting more and more difficult as the days turn into weeks and into months now.  Just in case she returns, I set the humane cat trap by the cat door entrance on the deck.  I covered it with a tarp so that it looks more like a shelter than a cage and put some dry cat food in it.  It's been out there for a week now, but nothing has come inside to set off the trap.  It's a loooooooong waiting game.