Jetty went to investigate and crossed the four busy lanes of traffic to see what was going
on. There she found the momma raccoon and her 5 babies huddled together. She returned
to the restaurant and called animal control. Another bunch of great people. Animal
control said that if they came, they would have to put the raccoons down. "Yikes, she
thought - not on my watch." So in essence, she told them -thanx but no thanx.
Soon the enterprising Jetty found a wooden ladder in the basement. In a bag she put
some rolls and salad, and once again crossed the 4-lane highway - this time with her
ladder and food.
She propped the ladder against the dumpster and put some food on the steps. No motion
from the raccoons at this point. She realized that they must be afraid. So back to the sub
shop for now. She returned a while later and to her huge relief, the dumpster was empty
and the mamma raccoon and her babies were gone. Great job Jetty!
The last raccoon rescue was written by MELANIE BLOW of New York. Her beginning
statement is wise and thoughtful and deserves to be quoted: "They say that when
opportunity knocks, you'd best be around to answer the door. We usually think of
opportunity in financial and material terms, but sometimes being able to experience
an intense bond with a wild animal is a true opportunity." Well said, and I can't agree
more with these sentiments.
In her senior year in college, Melanie and her boyfriend had rented a little house on a
horse farm. On their first night there they soon realized they had an upstairs "guest."
The guest turned out to be a large raccoon walking and digging in their crawlspace.
This was a little bit upsetting, but when they found out that their landlord was always
willing to kill raccoons because he saw them as a threat to his horses, they decided
instead to co-exist with the raccoon.
Then one afternoon when Blow was cooking dinner, she heard a noise at the door.
There on her hind legs was the raccoon scratching on the door. What did this mean?
To find out, she and her boyfriend went outside and saw the raccoon scratching at the
window and then circling around the house doing the same scratching at every door
and window.
They realized then that since they came to live there, there had been more activity
in the crawl space, so it was very likely that the raccoon had given birth to a litter.
They also both realized that walking outside with a mother animal who is frantic to
get to her babies could be dangerous, but still they ventured out. Blow's boyfriend
thought he knew how the raccoon had gotten into the crawl space from outside.
Blow armed herself with a fireplace poker -just in case as her boyfriend discovered
that the landlord had nailed a piece of plywood over a hole in the carport that had
allowed the raccoon entrance to the crawl space. After the boyfriend removed the
plywood -both of them slowly backed away and into their house.
The next morning while doing dishes, Blow saw three fat, healthy baby raccoons line up
right in front of the kitchen window. What a lovely parting gesture. This was the last
time either of them would see this mom and her babies. The crawl space remained empty.
Again Blow says it so well re their experience: "I have never had an experience with a wild
animal like that, where they so clearly expressed a need, and risked so much by trusting
that someone would understand and help them. But it worked out for everyone."
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