05/30/2024
Here's to my 1%.
All things wild should be returned to the wild. Fix them, feed them, turn them loose. 99% of the time I could do that.
And then there were the babies that created the 1%. It is tabu to have that 1%.
But....no choice.
We had a farmer call, 4 babies. Killed mom in his hay loft, didn't know they were up there. "They been without her for near 2 days now". "I think they're sick"
Killing racc**ns in the day time is so common for fear of rabies. (People just are not too bright sometimes)but killing them in a hay loft because they are in it in the day time is just stupid.
He never bothered to look for kits, he never thought about it. 2 days later he heard noises and presumed it was another c**n.
Yup...4 babies, maybe a week old, and now had been without mom for 2 days. In his defense, he tried to do right by bringing the babies in. Most farmers would have drowned them or let them die. It was pretty obvious he felt bad enough for killing mom, that I didn't feel it necessary to add to that by giving him hell.
They were so tiny, and so dehydrated, and yes....so sick.
Distemper, yep....4 baby racc**ns, no mom, maybe a week old and sick with distemper.
I called our rehab friends in Wetmore. "No way Tom said, we have plenty of distemper racc**ns right now, it's a huge issue across the state."
I asked him for some tips, and safe guard ideas for my animals at home. Since they would need to be bottlefed, I knew I'd be spending plenty of time with them.
Armed with 4 babies in a carrier, and antibiotics from the vet, I headed home. We always named the cats at the shelter after "something"...we had a theme. Food, cars, flowers, whatever.
This month was cereal, so the babies were....fruitloops, cheerios, trix, and grapenuts. With no plans to keep them. I used names for record keeping and it also made for easy identifying. By knowing what theme they were, it would later be an easy reminder of the year and month they came in.
No....the computer generation hadn't hit us yet, and paper was the only way of keeping records. Having had some of them destroyed once, we used easy reminders if we had to recreate.
I had a closet in my bedroom the size of a small bedroom, so I decided to put them in there. Easy access to the restroom for washing up, and I put a walk off pan of bleach water in there as well.
It was interesting to me to see and hear how much they were like cats....only with little hands. They didnt have ears or eyes open, so they were easily startled, and I tried to approach them slow so they could smell me first.
They were so damn adorable...lol
Getting them to take a bottle was a challenge, and being dehydrated, I knew I needed to get fluids in them and didn't look forward to the last resort of injecting fluids.
They were so small, they fit in the palm of my hand, so the bottle was my favorite idea.
Early on, I sexed them as 2 boys, 2 girls. One of the males was much larger than the others, and didn't seem to be struggling as bad with the distemper.
The two females I had very little hope for, they were so weak, and just didnt respond to much of anything. The other little male was struggling also, but was responsive to touch and smells just like his brother.
Within 3 days of bringing them home, I lost both the girls. I was so heartbroken. People that rescue animals often beat themselves up when losses happen. It just what we do, and Im no different. It stung, and I was so worried I would lose the boys, and at that point fully expected it.
A week in to having them, I was a bit more optimistic. Both boys drank bottles like champs, were learning to use their little "hands" and I was starting to see slivers of eyes. They recognized my voice, and obviously my smell and they would coo when they heard me.
Their energy level was picking up too and I was pretty sure we had turned a corner in winning the distemper battle.
Still, I kept my guard up.
After having them 2 weeks, I started REALLY noticing the size difference between the two boys. It was pretty significant. But, all in all the little one held his own during play time, and was quite curious about almost everything.
They were fun, and watching them grow was a blast. However, they were little mischievous creatures. As the days turned in to weeks, they were getting more adventurous. I had two things in my bedroom that they felt quite entertaining.
An under dresser and a brick fireplace.
They would make spider man envious the way they scaled that fireplace, but I was worried they would fall and get hurt. Not to mention having loose racc**ns in the bedroom wasn't exactly a great idea.
The under dresser was another thing. 😔 they figured out super quick how to get in between the drawers, and the only way to catch them was to remove the drawers. By the time you pulled the drawers out, they were making a mad dash for the fireplace again.
It was like a mini rodeo and a road race all tied in one.
I realized although they had some time before they could be released, they needed their own space....and water. They were eating food now, and it's important for racc**ns to be able to wash their food while they eat it.
There was a large room with a concrete floor right off the eat in area of my kitchen that would be perfect. The plan was to eventually make it a large dining room. For now, it would be ideal for the c**n babies. In addition, it had large windows, and they needed fresh air and sun shine.
The room also had a sliding glass door that from previous experience in the bedroom, they were well versed in opening. The entire family had firm instructions to make sure if they went out there to feed or water them, that they made sure that door got locked when they came in.
Welp, you guessed it. Someone either forgot, or didnt latch it fully. The kids were at school, I was at the shelter, and the kitchen was being ransacked.
Even as I write this, I still shudder to think what would have happened had they left the play area of the kitchen to wander the house, and will be forever gratefull my Great Danes were both outside.
The kids got home from school before I got home, and needless to say were in shock. I walked in shortly after to my two older kids just standing in the middle of the mess in shock, and the little one giggling.
No, I do not look back on this now and laugh. I do smile though. I smile at the pure innocence of my youngest seeing nothing but how much fun those two little brats had, and that we could "clean it up" You have no idea how nimble those little hands can be.
The phone that hung on the wall was taken apart, every single cannister was emptied and so we had sugar, coffee, and flour all over the place. They got into the lowest cabinets and dumped all the cereal, crackers, cookies, and whatever else they could find. It was a mess. A huge huge mess.
I picked them up, and put them back in their room, listening to their little cooing, and silly little jumping around wanting to play.
They were still so small and yet so smart.
What led to the determination to keep them came when they got out of their room and went exploring outdoors.
They heard the neighbor kids playing and headed right to them.
Yep....they had been so sick, and were handled so much that they were now people oriented.
Thankfully, my neighbors were aware we had them, and brought them home.
Part of me felt like I'd failed them. After all, they were meant to be free, and wild. The other part of me was glad they survived their early stages of life, and would forever be safe.
They grew up to be huge racc**ns, full of life and personality. They learned their names, and who their favorite people were.
They were eventually moved to a huge outdoor enclosure with a nice "sleeping house" a big pool, and plenty to climb on. They enjoyed untying shoes, playing with jewelry, removing hair ties, and whatever else they could get those "hands" on.
The picture shows them at just about 3 months old. Anyone entering their space during water play time was going to get wet. They knew if they put little fingers in the end of that hose, it sprayed all over. And they loved it!
I had them for just over 10 years and I still miss them.
I never reccommend keeping wild animals, these were an exception. An exception I hope to never find the need to repeat.
