Thank you to all the finders for helping save these beautiful babies. Thank you for caring enough about them to get them to me. Your true heroes in my book..
Buttons and BooBoo
Buttons and BooBoo are doing so good. They were rescued from certain starvation by kind people in Sheridan after their mother was killed on the road. When they arrived at Rocking R Rescue they were very malnourished and dehydrated but thanks to special people willing to take them home and find help for them they will have a chance to live their best life in the wild when they are old enough.
Rescue work isn't all cute babies. Sometimes we are blessed to be able to take care of elders as well.
This is Hope. We have learned so much from her about what's possible with raccoon relationships.
We're nearly 1/4 way to our goal! Thanks to you, our generous Facebook family, we've raised $962 towards our $4000 fall fundraiser.
We operate on donations and volunteers only, so we depend on you for the kibble and other food for our overwinter and soft-release kids, for vaccines and vet bills, for our enclosures, and for the training our volunteers need to care for the many babies that come to us. We've taken on 55 raccoons so far this year, and each baby costs between $250-$300 for food and vaccines alone.
We've been highlighting our successes this week, but it's important to share the losses too. Rehabbing wild animals is heartbreaking. Sometimes the best we can do is give babies a safe, warm, quiet place as they cross over.
This year we had four hard losses. Lucy, one of our older and dearest non-releasables, died from liver failure. One of our soft-releases came home with terrible injuries from an unknown cause, and our vet couldn't save her. And another girl came to us with distemper that had already progressed to neurological symptoms; at the vet's recommendation, she was humanely euthanized. It's this poor baby with distemper in the video below.
Thank you for sharing our whole journey with us: the heights of our joy as we watch the year's babies run free and fulfill their instinctual need to be wild animals, and the depths of our sorrow when we can only hold a poor sick or broken body as our wild friend crosses the rainbow bridge. It's ALL of this kindness that you support.
Please donate via Venmo @RockingRRaccoonRescue or send kibbles through our Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/206WORQ8QYFX6?ref_=wl_share
Fall fundraiser!
Our goal is to raise $4000 to feed our overwinter, soft-release, and non-releasable bandits. Yesterday we introduced a few of our non-releasable raccoons. Today, let’s talk about learning how to raccoon.
Baby raccoons don’t automatically know how to survive in the wild. Turning loose a pet raccoon into the forest is a death sentence most of the time, just like it would be for a puppy. Baby raccoons spend a long time with their moms, often overwintering with her for the first year, if possible.
So, we spend a lot of time with our babies practicing: climbing, fishing, digging for worms, hunting bugs, feeling for crawdads, avoiding big scary animals, finding and making safe nests and dens, and interacting with other raccoons.
By the time we release our babies, they’ve “wilded up.” They’ve shown great skill in finding – and defending – their own food. They’re cautious and prefer to stay out of sight, even with the rehabber who raised them. And they growl and hiss warnings.
In this video, you can see some in the intermediate stage between being dependent babies and independent, releasable juveniles. Check the comments for more videos and pictures of babies fishing, scampering, and practicing "raccooning" while keeping a close eye on "mom" in case she sounds the alarm.
Your donations pay for more than just food. They pay for the enclosures – including barns – and enrichment that make “wilding up” possible. We’ve cared for 55 raccoons so far this year. Please help us reach our goal and donate by Vemno @RockingRRaccoonRescue or send us kibble from our Amazon list, https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/206WORQ8QYFX6?ref_=wl_share.
How do babies learn to be wild?
They get age-appropriate practice exploring! We're lucky that, in Wyoming, we can take babies out of their enclosures to practice climbing trees, playing in the creek, and feeling around for treats hidden in the environment.
Look in the comments for pictures of Nugget climbing trees!
Learning to be wild.
This little girl came in as an attempted pet surrender; her people recognized she was a lot of work and deserved to live her best life. We're so touched by folks who put the babies' needs first.
When she came in, she was very friendly with people and afraid of other raccoons. She now LOVES living with her wilder juvenile raccoon friends and is a great climber out in the barn; no more living indoors with mom. Here, she's learning how to catch crawdads, one of the most fun raccoon lessons. She's about 12 weeks and wildling up really nicely.
Little Steve from Deaver sure is loving those Cheerios!
What do we do here at Rocking R? Take a look behind the scenes at the work that our finders, transporters, volunteers, rehabbers, and donors make possible.
Thank you Marissa, from Basin, who reached out today when she realized this baby was not only alone, but skin and bones. Baby is currently being warmed and rehydrated, and she should make a full recovery thanks to Marissa's quick action.
Izzy slept really well last night, and she had some good time playing hard this morning. She passed easily this afternoon. Thank you to all of you, for your kind words, prayers, and support.
There's no easy way to say this. Nerve conduction tests showed that Izzy's pain is moving up her spine and getting worse. The veterinarian specialist believes she may have a congenital condition that may be the reason she was injured in the first place. In any case, we determined that euthanasia is the right course of action.
We were hoping that this amputation would end her pain. Looks like we're just having to do that in a different way than we planned. Izzy is having one last night to play and get messy and do all the things she's not normally allowed to do.
Donations will go to cover her vet bill from today and tomorrow. If you would like your donation returned, please just let me know. Any funds remaining will be held for our next medical case. Thank you for your prayers and generosity and kind wishes and for holding Izzy in your heart and in the light.
Most of the babies were successfully released this month on private acreage where they're allowed to come and go from a large barn that continues to be stocked with food over the winter, so they always have a safe place to return. This is called "soft release," and it's the very best release choice, when possible.
This year we do have one unusual baby, Nugget, who is such a late season baby that she's still taking formula! She'll be overwintering with us and released in the spring. So, we're lucky to keep getting baby pictures in October!
Swimming practice at Camp Carolyn! Such happy kids. It's wonderful to see them exploring new things and getting more independent, even though it's hard on the old heartstrings.
