One morning my son came to me with the news that our pond was half empty. Not half full as the optimists would have us believe, trust me, this pond was definitely half gone.

The cause was immediately apparent. Some critter had chewed or clawed through the liner and made a gash extending about eight or nine inches under the waterline. Presumably the beast had been trying to get at worms or other tasty treats lurking under the liner.

Another possibility is that this was the year of the Seventeen Year Cicadas hatched out. When we replaced the liner at the beginning of the season there were lots of holes in the soil under the plastic where the grubs were coming to the surface (seventeen years underground and they can't get out because some joker made a pond over their burrow - bummer).

Now I'm not suggesting that the Cicada grubs chewed their way out, but I bet they were an irresistible temptation to Raccoons and their ilk. Anyway, the liner was ruined. Again. Only a few weeks after we made a rather nice stone edging too!

It's getting a little late in the season for a new pond liner so we'll try again next year. In the meantime, how to prevent wildlife from clawing up our pond? I'm sure a commercial pond liner would not be able to resist racoon claws. Ideas welcome.