The new kid, Dusty!

Here is a little unexpected surprise for this time of year....a baby raccoon! He's about 5 weeks old and just a bag of bones, poor little fella. He's also got mange, but not terribly advanced. Right now the biggest concern is the emaciation. The Needham ACO got him to me on Monday, and has ever so slowly been hydrated and worked up to eating small amounts of formula.

  He's adorable for sure! The pictures don't show it well, but he kind of looks like a powder bottle exploded and coated him...like he's covered in dust.

 

So far he is doing well, and barring any other problems like parvo or distemper, I am optimistic for sure!

The groundhog and the cooper's hawk.

I was sitting at my kitchen table when a flash of feathers zipped by the window, then to my delight, took a sharp turn and landed on the back lawn! One of my elusive Cooper's Hawks.....Awesome, a chance to get my camera!! I was hoping to get a quick picture but what I got was a little more entertaining than that!

Turns out young little Cooper here thought it saw a chance for a meal. Look closely on the far left...

 He landed on the lawn to size things up....

 .....while his prospective prey sized him up! Yup, that's my favorite resident digger there!

 Young Mr. Cooper continued to fly in circles around my furry friend...landing in various bushes and trees close by, trying to come up with a game plan.

 Lucky for me again, landing in a bush right outside my window! I'm afraid the screen didn't make for the greatest of pictures, but it was a great opportunity to watch him up close!

 You may ask....why the heck wasn't I running out there to save my furry little buddy...the horror!?

Well, we both realized digger here was much too big a target for our young, inexperienced, predator. It was actually quite amusing watching just how relaxed digger was, as he casually observed Mr. Cooper flying circles around him in between mouthfuls of dandelions.

Lesson learned, our young Cooper's finally flew off in search of easier prey, and digger,well he just continued to munch down his dinner!



Odie update!

Odie is still with us and doing great! He has come a long way from the scrawny, very stunted baby he was!

He is starting to look like a real raccoon now! His teeth finally developed and he went from a formula/yogurt/omnivore diet gruel to finally eating solid food! As a result, he finally started putting on some weight and filled in. He still has a long way to go though....he is still very small and his coat is not filling in like a coons coat should. It's very soft with no guard hairs yet and no undercoat for warmth. I am optimistic he may actually do well and be releasable! All he needs is the time to develop properly. So obviously, he will be overwintering, and we shall see what the winter holds for our little runty man!

 

Eggs, acorns and fun!

Life goes on for Scritch's gang in the big pen. They are doing great and the time for release is drawing near! So far it seems all are on track to be big enough for release. The Dighton 4, the Little Rascals, Mason, Cinder, Bossy, Fluff, Millie and Champ...a good sized group that can hopefully all go together at one release site.

Dinner this evening consists of mice, eggs and acorns mixed in with some dog chow.

The eggs are still somewhat of a puzzle to some of them!

 .....but the acorns are no problem for this crew! They love them!