So da babies needs da HELPS
So Mom and Dad had a guy put a livetrap in their carport in hopes of catching the raccoon that was living underneath the floor/above the carport near their dining room. This guy (scary crazy "bug" man) caught a grownup, carted it away, end of story, right?
Nope! About 3 days ago, Mom comes home to hear this ungodly racket in the carport, at about 10:30 at night on a cold and rainy evening. Hunting, she found baby raccoon #1. Maybe 2 pounds, all claws and fur, huge huge blue eyes. She took him inside, put him in a little box with a warm blanket because apparently he was literally shivering. End of story, right?
Nope! She calls me and about an hour later, when I show up, she is downstairs still hunting because there is more unearthly racket happening and while our little guy was loud, he certainly wasn't THAT loud. I am looking at baby #1 when she yells for me from the basement (meanwhile, Dad is on the computer looking up what to do with raccoons that have been orphaned) and when I go down she is holding one live one and one almost not alive one. She hands me the live one and then I believe she tucked the almost dead one in a box, made sure it was asleep/unconscious, and sealed off the box. That poor little dude was so cold and so close to not alive...I'm not a fan of euthenasia or anything but I guess sometimes it really is the most humane thing to do. Anyway. She hands me baby raccoon #2 and the three of us proceed to spend the next four hours holding them, feeding them, and taking pics of them.
And they are the cutest goddamn critters I have ever seen. I work with kids, ok? I know cute. These two--affectionately named Little Bit and Chauncey--win. Hands down.
Anyway, the end of this story goes as follows: the "bug" man offered to come and kill them, but somehow we just couldn't bring ourselves to do this, so we are in the process of looking for somewhere that will take them, get them back to normal raccoon-y health, teach them how to do normal raccoon-y things, and them return them to the wild--together. There have been a few failed options around here, and we haven't exhausted all possibilities due to the holiday weekend, but....for those of you in/from Oregon: do you have any suggestions? We're pretty willing to take them anywhere, Portland area or Medford area or the coast, just so long as no one kills them and they don't end up as housepets, both of which are equally inhumane actions at this point. If you have ideas, PLEASE PLEASE let me know.
The first pic is Chauncey, the second is Little Bit.
Nope! About 3 days ago, Mom comes home to hear this ungodly racket in the carport, at about 10:30 at night on a cold and rainy evening. Hunting, she found baby raccoon #1. Maybe 2 pounds, all claws and fur, huge huge blue eyes. She took him inside, put him in a little box with a warm blanket because apparently he was literally shivering. End of story, right?
Nope! She calls me and about an hour later, when I show up, she is downstairs still hunting because there is more unearthly racket happening and while our little guy was loud, he certainly wasn't THAT loud. I am looking at baby #1 when she yells for me from the basement (meanwhile, Dad is on the computer looking up what to do with raccoons that have been orphaned) and when I go down she is holding one live one and one almost not alive one. She hands me the live one and then I believe she tucked the almost dead one in a box, made sure it was asleep/unconscious, and sealed off the box. That poor little dude was so cold and so close to not alive...I'm not a fan of euthenasia or anything but I guess sometimes it really is the most humane thing to do. Anyway. She hands me baby raccoon #2 and the three of us proceed to spend the next four hours holding them, feeding them, and taking pics of them.
And they are the cutest goddamn critters I have ever seen. I work with kids, ok? I know cute. These two--affectionately named Little Bit and Chauncey--win. Hands down.
Anyway, the end of this story goes as follows: the "bug" man offered to come and kill them, but somehow we just couldn't bring ourselves to do this, so we are in the process of looking for somewhere that will take them, get them back to normal raccoon-y health, teach them how to do normal raccoon-y things, and them return them to the wild--together. There have been a few failed options around here, and we haven't exhausted all possibilities due to the holiday weekend, but....for those of you in/from Oregon: do you have any suggestions? We're pretty willing to take them anywhere, Portland area or Medford area or the coast, just so long as no one kills them and they don't end up as housepets, both of which are equally inhumane actions at this point. If you have ideas, PLEASE PLEASE let me know.
The first pic is Chauncey, the second is Little Bit.