Can a Hilarious Pool Float Really Keep Animals Out of Your Pool?

If you're having trouble keeping raccoons, ducks, owls, or other wildlife out of your pool you'll try just about anything, even if it seems completely ridiculous.

I've talked about all of the insane wildlife that's been wreaking havoc at our house including a woodpecker that won't stop hammering our gutters. I love nature just as much as the next person, but sometimes it can really be a pain in the butt.

Take our pool for example. Over the winter a pair of raccoons decided to chew a hole through our pool cover and have been making nightly visits ever since. We'd wake in the morning to raccoon footprints all along the edge of the pool. Not only are these disease-ridden animals a health and safety concern, but the last thing I need is one of them to put a claw through the pool liner.

If that wasn't enough nature drama, our pool has also recently been targeted by owls. We have a rubber duck thermometer that floats in the pool. Apparently, one of our loud neighborhood owls keeps mistaking it for a real bird and swoops down every night to "kill" it. The floating thermometer gets swooped up by the owl who eventually realizes it's not edible and drops it somewhere in the yard.

We tried everything from pepper spray to physical barriers to keep these critters out of our pool, but it was a losing battle. That is until I stumbled across a sure-fire animal deterrent on the internet.

While looking for ways to keep critters out of the pool I stumbled across a suggestion that I first thought was a joke. Someone claimed that an inflatable alligator in the pool would keep practically any animal at a safe distance. After dismissing the idea as ridiculous, I wondered if it might actually work. After all, if the owls think our rubber duck is a real bird, why wouldn't it be fooled by a plastic pool float?

It turns out that this was one of the best pieces of advice I've ever received. One week later, our pool is completely critter-free, and all we had to do was buy a $20 pool float.

If you're having trouble keeping nature out of your swimming pool, it might sound ridiculous, but an inflatable alligator may be the solution you're looking for.