George and I had a crazy day yesterday. George spotted a baby raccoon that had fallen out of a tree while we were driving and the hole was really high so it was impossible to put it back in.It was so cute. Its eyes were still closed and it made super cute bleating noises. We were a little grossed out by all the ticks, but we couldn't just leave it there.
So we picked it up thinking that we could take it to a wildlife rehabilitator we know. Unfortunately she was not home so we had a long night in store for us. Those cute bleating noises turned into incesscant cries. We fed it kitten formula using a dropper and that calmed it down for half an hour or so.
The cries were so loud we even tried bringing it back to where we found it in hopes that mama raccoon might hear it and come get it. But after an hour of waiting we decided to take it back home.
We kept it in the basement all night and we did morning feedings at 6 and 10. I was getting concerned because it was a little lethargic and cold during the last feeding and the rehabber we knew still wasn't home.
Luckily we found another wildlife rehabilitator online. She was one of the few that took rabies vector species. We drove the baby up to her this afternoon. Thank God for Marcy the rehabber!
I called tonight to see how she was doing and Marcy reported that she warmed up nicely on the heating pad and had a good feeding.
Now if George would stop making "coon itch" jokes maybe I could stop feeling like I have a tick crawling on me.
1 comment:
Poor thing! I never thought about the rabies vector thing, but I guess I can see why a rehaber might avoid raccoons. I heard a really scary story on "This American Life" about a woman who lived in the woods and was attacked by a rabid raccoon. http://www.thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1268 She was stuck there alone w/ it latched onto her leg for a long time. Eventually a family member found her and they literally had to beat the raccoon to death to get it off of her if I'm remembering the story correctly. Then I seem to remember there being a lot of confusion about the correct protocol for treating the rabies virus in a person when she went to the hospital.
Scary that a virus can do that to an animal! If a human gets a full blown case of rabies, would they go crazy and kill other people like the rage virus in the movie "28 Days Later?" (a good movie if you enjoy post-apocalyptic pandemic films)
I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for the baby raccoon!
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