I am the Raccoon Baby Whisperer

I am the Raccoon Baby Whisperer, at least that is what Mike called me last night at 11 pm when we were walking to the house from placing the last of the two baby raccoons in the dog crate in the garage.

At around 9 pm I went walking over to my in-laws to pick Elise up. We'd left her there so we could go celebrate my book review being in the next issue of our local paper. As I was walking past the trees on the south of the driveway, I heard something in the tree, so I stopped to see what it was. I hadn't seen squirrels or anything in our trees so curiosity caught me. Then it was the beautiful masked eyes of one of the baby raccoons that caught my eye.

I stopped and listened and it was quietly calling out for something. Then another showed up. Knowing that just down the street a raccoon has lain dead for almost a week now, and knowing what time it was, I put two and two together and these must be her babies. They wouldn't have been out, and willing to come down a tree at 9 pm without their mother. I called back to them. They make a light rolling r sound, and a little peeping type hum.

I got my phone out and called around. Janis finally answered and talked to me about these cuties. I know she's a lover of all animals and figured she'd help me, and she is! I picked up Elise and begged Spencer to help me catch them so they wouldn't die from other causes (guns, cars, starvation). He agreed. We hunted in the barns for the live traps, finally found one. Then we set the trap and went to see them. They'd climbed back up into the hollow of the tree. But when they saw us, they started coming down! I called to them, we talked back and forth as they came closer and backed away and then came closer. Elise and I went for a 5 gallon bucket and lid. We figured they'd just come out of the tree right at us and we could catch them easier in that. Finally, Coconut came down to the very closest branches and Spencer nudged her into the bucket. Then I took her to the crate in the garage. Time for #2. New bucket, with cat food in it. Cocoa had a little bit harder time trusting us as we'd already taken Coconut away. But he came down on his own. All the way down the tree, feet first (like you and I would have) not head first like Coconut. He even tried to stick his head through the fence to get to me, the food in the bucket. So Spencer caught him in the bucket on the other side.

They spent the night in the garage, with fresh water, some cat and dog food and each other. I spent the night listening to Mike snore, and dreaming of raccoons at someone's house that I have never seen before. It was a restless night for us all I'm sure! When I checked on them after Mike left, I brought them some apple pieces. Mike had given them a browning banana. You'll see Coconut eating an apple piece above this.

Elise named them Coconut and Cocoa. I decided Coconut had to have been the one that came out of the tree easiest, because they practically fall out! Cocoa is a little more challenging to get, so the later is Cocoa. They squeeked and rr'd at me when I woke them to take their pictures. But they sure are cute!

What a way to end a really good day! I'm so glad that Janis is going to take her best care of them. She's a great person and I'm so glad that I know her! She's also just a big smiley! They will grow up at her house in Liberty with lots of other safe raccoons. She's going to let them live in her garage until they feel good enough to go out on their own. She'll send video and pictures to us as they grow, as she can see them. It will be fun to watch.