The Great Raccoon Debacle

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Yesterday began like any other day. I set my alarm, hit the snooze button two, ok three times, and eventually rolled my ass out of bed to seize the day. Ok, as much as someone with morning fibro creeking joints can “seize” the morning. Loaded with my cup of coffee in one hand, and my mouse in another I set to conquer the world one blog post at a time.

Usually my day is pretty routine. We actually live a pretty boring life, but just have an uncanny ability to have odd things happen to us. This day would definitely live up to that track record. Around noon, Bayla and I like to take a walk around our neighborhood. It gets my ass out of the desk chair, and she just likes to escape the house.

As I pushed the button on my Fitbit, and headed across our yard I started to hear this weird screeching noise. It was like someone squeezing a very unhappy chipmunk. Confused, Bayla and I started to look around. It didn’t take long before we found the culprit of this disturbing sound. Hobbling across the street up our neighbors driveway was this pint sized raccoon. It would look around and every few inches cry out this heart breaking cry. It was edging closer and closer to the street, and my heart just bled for the little guy (or gal).

As I walked over to their driveway, I yelled for Bayla to run inside to get a box. Luckily, we have a stockpile of boxes. (Sometimes being a blogger that has a regular relationship with the UPS man has it’s perks.)

While I was waiting for the box, I edged myself closer and closer to the little gal that was hobbling her way towards the mail boxes. Because I knew the raccoon could have rabies, this mama was not going to touch her but wanted to kinda guide her to make sure she didn’t make a bee line for the street. By the time Bayla, came out with the box she was practically at my shoes crying and hobbling. Luckily, she was a baby and didn’t seem too afraid of me. In less than a minute, I cornered her and got her to back up in the box. She was NOT happy about it, and HISSED at me!

So there we were, sitting in our front yard with a raccoon. in . a . box. I know Minnesota is known for having wildlife, but the only thing I could figure was what the HECK was I going to do with a baby raccoon. Who do I call? Animal control? Department of Natural Resources? Of course, the first thing I HAD to do was Periscope the baby adorable coon in the box, because that was totally the best way to get her some help. (Hey, it was fun and the scopers seemed to think it rocked)

After that, we hit Google. We called the city, nope. Called the police department, nope. Finally we found ONE wildlife rescue in the area, and left a message but it was going to take TWO HOURS for a return phone call. While we waited, we even called the Department of Natural Resources and they told me to call the wildlife rescue. So here we sat, with a raccoon in a box.

While we waited, we called the husband to tell him about our new friend. The first thing he said is “What are we going to DO with this baby raccoon?” The tone in his voice was very skeptical as if to say, “NO, honey we CANNOT have a pet baby raccoon.” Man, does that man oh mine know me well.

After getting off the phone with hubby, our tummies began to rumble. It was lunchtime, and we were all getting hungry, but weren’t quite sure what to do with the baby raccoon. We have two dogs and she would surely become lunch if we took her in the house. We finally came up with the genius idea to put her in our dachsund’s kennel so we could get her in the house and make sure she didn’t become a raccoon chew toy.

The afternoon was spent with the girls on “coon watch” while we waited to hear from the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. We knew there was a chance that they would just tell us to leave the baby at the base of the tree and see if mama coon would come and get her, but since she was walking weirdly we wanted to ask them what to do.

Two hours later they gave us a call back, and told us that we should bring the baby in.  They just wanted to double check she was ok, and if she was that we could take her back and put her at the base of the tree. That part made the kids really happy because they were having visions of pet raccoon flying through their heads. Quickly they learned the answer to that was a resounding no, not because of me, because it’s illegal to have a pet raccoon in Minnesota (yes, I actually checked). At that point the kids began a campaign to move to Wisconsin where it’s not illegal. Sigh.

Two hours after we found little bit, we drove the forty minutes to Roseville, MN to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It was quite a sight. The baby raccoon was holding onto the sides of the kennel like her little life depended on it. All you could see was fluff and claws clinging to the edge of the crate. It wasn’t until we were half way there that we saw her paws slowly starting to release their grip. I guess car rides doesn’t just work for human babies, they help lull baby raccoons to sleep too!

After trecking across the Twin Cities, we finally got to the Wildlife Center. It was a nice building in a suburban neighborhood. The parking lot was surprisingly full. I guess this is the “busy” season with all the babies being born during spring. When we entered the lobby, we were waiting in line and noticed the little gal in front of us was holding a baby chipmunk. It was so adorable! The picture is a bit fuzzy, but you can still see how cute it is!

 

We filled out the paper work to get “Rocket” checked out. Yes, we named her Rocket. In less than five minutes, they took the kennel in the back to get her checked out. Because it’s a wildlife rehab center we weren’t able to go to the back. I guess Minnesota has super strict laws about stuff like that.

We waited literally five minutes when the receptionist came out with a big beaming smile. She turned to us and said “Well, looks like she is staying with us.” It was a weird sense of accomplishment that filled my heart. It seemed that baby girl Rocket had an injury that was infected which was probably why she was crying out so much. If we hadn’t brought her to the wildlife rescue, she most certainly would not have made it in the wild.  That day, the three of us saved a life, and that’s pretty fricking awesome.

The Wildlife Rescue of Minnesota is now very near and dear to our hearts, and we were shocked to hear despite how large the Twin Cities are that it’s the ONLY rescue of it’s kind. There are TONS of animals that they have to turn away because they just don’t have the space or the funds. If you are an animal lover, please make sure to check them out and if it moves your heart donate to them. They run mainly on donations, and it’s pretty awesome that they can help animals like our little gal Rocket.

 

They not only do amazing things rescuing animals, they do amazing things to educate our town about what is normal for animals. Did you know baby fawns are often left alone by their moms because they aren’t fast enough to keep up during foraging? Make sure to check out the Wildlife Rescue of Minnesota website here! You can also follow them on Facebook too!

As far as Rocket, we will email them in a few days and see how she is doing. Hopefully we will have good  news to share with you guys! So stay tuned!