Cooniebear.

No pics of my gang on the coon cam at the last release site...but I did get this interesting coonie. Take a look at this! Notice anything strange??

No tail!...Looking at this guy from behind you'd think you were looking at a bear! It's the cutest little cooniebear!

So the only visitors to the feeder were our friend Bear here...one of his coonie friends, and a big, fat healthy possie.

Ouch!

Well the poor boy was getting agitated in his pen. I think he could hear and see his buddies River and Witchey across from him in the big pen and wanted in! In the hopes of further preventing more damage to his foot....I brought River over to join him. He was SO happy to see his sister again....a very cute and happy reunion.

But then River was agitated trying to get back to her pen and the 9 friends she left behind there. So I came up with another compromise....I separated the small section of the large pen off and put River and Einstein/Willie (I'm still not positive which one it is but now I'm leaning towards Willie) in there. The entry window was covered with wire so they can interact with the other babies. Soon they should all be used to Einstein and then when his foot is well enough they can all be mixed in together!

His poor back foot looks like hamburger! It looks awful...and much worse in person even! I've rigged the cage with flat surfaces and shelves for him to walk down so he doesn't have to use the foot to climb.

The very happy reunion!

River is definitely enjoying the new shelves!

Einstein meets the rest of the gang.

I think the foot is going to get worse before it get's better...it already looks worse since these pictures were taken......keeping a close eye on it in case it doesn't start healing properly.

Finally.....a sighting!!

Ok.....other than the return of Einstein, there has been no other sighting or sign of the rest of the gang. Even the food buckets remain untouched. Today I decided I would put the coon cam out there and hopefully get something!

So after work around 11pm I trudge out there and as expected, get no response. I set up the camera and loitered a little longer hoping.....but nothing. I get in my car (a little bummed and worried to say the least) and head out. I turn out of the driveway and not a few yards down the road do I encounter a raccoon standing on the side of the road!! Just standing there looking from my approaching headlights, to the other side of the road, back to me again. I'm thinking..No way! What are the chances? (There was definitely some divine intervention at work!)

So I park the car right there in the road and get out. As I start walking toward it, it finally moves further off the road heading into the woods. I start calling and she stops and decides to climb a nearby tree to get a better look. I make it to the tree and cannot even tell you how thrilled I was to be face to face with Baloo! She's huffing up a storm...but she stopped and waited for me! As I'm talking to her I hear some noise across the street. I turn in time to see 2 more coonies run and hide behind a tree. I head over there calling and RJ pops her head up around the base of the tree. A little more calling and Scootch gives me a friendly chatter. They were pretty skittish and wouldn't come to me, but they acknowledged me. When I turned and headed back toward the car to get some treats, they ran across the street to Baloo's side.

I returned with treats and threw a couple to RJ and Scootch already further in the woods...but they stopped and went for the cookies...... Then I went up to Baloo still clinging to the tree and keeping an eye on her sisters whereabouts while I approached her. She was huffing pretty good and her tail was twitching, but once I got close enough to reach her and she realized what was in my hand she stopped and gently took the cookie in her mouth and headed down the tree to join her sisters.

That's why Baloo was standing and waiting on the side...they must have started crossing until the truck heading toward them stopped them, but not before being separated on opposite sides. Baloo was waiting for her sisters. Luckily they seem street smart too, and obviously it's a very quiet little road. It's a small windy road that no one travels at night....thus my ability to park right in the road for about 15 minutes!

They all looked great and it was well worth the trip out of the way after a night shift! Now I can finally go to sleep....a little more reassured that the gang is ok!

The extended family.

OK....here we have the gang that will be overwintering this year. All the Muppet's are getting along great with my gang....it's officially one, big, happy family!!

The Muppet's......Gonzo, Fozzy, Piggy and Chicken! All very cute and now that Gonzo isn't trying to kill me....all very sweet! LOL

River getting her daily dose of tummy tickles from mom!

Gonzo

Witchey

Getting along fine as you can see....a Muppet (Chicken) and River side by side.

Raquel gives the camera a smile!

And so the off season begins with a full house!

Victim of a wildlife Assault & Battery!

Got a call Thursday from the family at Baloo's release site....one of the gang was in the den box and something is wrong with one of the eyes. So I went over after work to check it out. Sure enough, Einstein was huddled up in there and not in the best of shape! The eye was obviously injured and his back feet looked swollen so I bundled him into a carrier and brought him home.

(At least I think it's Einstein! He and Willy look similar...I can tell by the fur color around the eyes who is who and with the injuries it's hard to tell....although he acts a little huffy like Einstein, the injuries would make any coonie huffy like that at this point!)

Brought him to the vet and on closer inspection...he basically got the shit beat out of him! Luckily the eye is ok in there...just a lot of swelling around it. Lots of wounds on his back and all 4 feet, but the worst are the back feet. One back foot was chewed pretty bad....lots of holes through the toes. Nothing he can't recover from, but it means he will be spending the winter as it will take quite a while for it to heal up. With all 4 feet hurting, he's having enough trouble walking, much less being able to climb and escape danger if left out there.

Here he is the morning after treatment and some pain meds, all settled into the den box in his pen.

This is the least of the damage on his feet....it's the other one that is pretty mangled, but he keeps that one pretty much away from my prying hands!

At least he's being good about taking his antibiotics...he won't let me near the eye to put ophthalmic ointment in there, and we don't want to cause more harm to the feet by causing him to struggle trying to treat the eye, so oral drugs it is because believe it or not, that's easy!

The vet thinks the wounds were about 3 days old, so he pretty much got beat up his first night out there, poor guy! Luckily he was able to work his way back to the safety of the pen...it took him a couple days, and I guarantee it wasn't easy, but he made it!

I just hope the rest of the gang is faring better!

A great release & a great visit!

Monday night was another busy night here in raccoon city! Two groups were released....Laurie released hers and my Baloo, RJ, Rosie, Scootch, Flipper, Willie and Einstein are now free coons! It was a little easier than the first group. With the exception of Baloo and Rosie, this gang wasn't as clingy and had no problem wandering off and letting me escape without following me when the time was right.

Rosie was the first one out while the rest of the sleepy heads lounged in the den box.

Suddenly everyone realizes....hey...she's on the OUTSIDE having fun!!

We wanna go out there! How do we get out there!!!

They FINALLY find the door and it's a mass exodus!

Lots of fun climbing trees and hanging out on the top of the cage!

Flipper

Scootch

Rosie

RJ

Einstein

Willie playing peek-a-boo.......

...and Mr. fireman....he slid down this tree like a fire pole!

Baloo was the last to leave the cage and I kind of had to coax her down to join the others before they took off without her!

I went back Tues. afternoon before work and no sign of anyone!

After releasing Baloo's crew I scooted over to the release site for Diesel's group. Based on the time stamp on the coon cam pictures, they usually start arriving around 7:15pm. I got there about 7 and immediately found Tank up a tree.He was thrilled to see mom again! Shortly there after my baby Dozer showed up and was in my arms with the biggest coonie hugs for mom!

While Tank and Dozer lounged in my lap, Kodiak and Panda came in for dinner. One more was up a tree but wouldn't come down and was too far away to tell who it was.

I hung out with them for about an hour....they look AWESOME! Very healthy, clean and happy. Dozer and Tank were particularly playful and Dozer dug my hat out of my pocket and ran off with it. I never did find it! When it was time to leave Dozer was having none of that....he followed me down to the car. (And it was all I could do not to let him hop in and drive off with him, I'll tell ya!!) Luckily I had some treats in there so I walked him back up there, left a pile of treats for them all, and snuck out of there....once again leaving them behind.

Why do I torture myself?!

Well I guess because as much as it sucks leaving them, it's so wonderful to see that they are doing well and happy! It's the reason I do this!

Meeting new friends?

Well friends may be a stretch here! Looks like this possie decided it was going to take over the feeder by trying to scare off one of the gang. It probably would have worked too except for the fact that he wasn't the only coonie out there......and coonies are VERY curious and love to check out new things!! Once number 2 moved in to check out the commotion Mr. Possie decided it wasn't a good idea and made a hasty retreat. I can only imagine that the rest of the gang was out there and heading toward him....imagine what was going through his mind then!! LOL

Those left behind....

So with the final gang getting ready to be released possibly tomorrow, we have the rest of the babies staying the winter.

River had a seizure so she's staying to keep an eye on here and make sure they don't get frequent or worse.

Cinnamon and Peanut....they look like twins and the only way I can tell them apart is by the penis! (or lack thereof!! LOL)

Witchey...a late arrival that is slightly neurologic due to head trauma. Like River, she will stay so I can keep an eye on her condition to make sure it doesn't get any worse.

Don't forget about me!! River again....yes I remember you River!!

Phoenix our recovered burn victim. Just the sweetest coonie ever!

The 2 parvo girls...River (again!) and little Raquel, the smallest of the 6.

Witchey again...

Gimme that camera!

Raquel is thrilled to be in the big pen now!

So that is what is left of my gang. We have since added 4 more too!! Laurie's overwinters began to stress out when their 6 other siblings were taken to the release site. They were injuring the pads on their paws pacing in the cage and trying to get out maybe?? So we decided to try adding them to my crew in the bigger cage. It's done wonders for them! Everyone gets along great and they are thrilled to have new siblings. The paws are healed and everyone has settled in great. I hope to get pictures of the new improved crew soon!

The raccoons are alright!

Well it's been a week and a half since releasing Diesel's gang. I have been over there at various times but haven't seen anyone since that day Diesel, Dozer and Razz showed up. Sooooooo..I put the coon cam out there! I'm so happy to report my babies are doing great! Looks like they're all hanging out together still. Most of them are in this clip!

Quite a few spent some time screwing with the camera too...." Oh look, mom left us a new toy!" More than a couple clips look like a 9.5 on the Richter scale while they knocked it around! LOL Apparently I secured it well enough....it was still pointing in the right direction the next morning....just a little muddier...covered in dirty coonie paw prints!

My mind is more at ease now as they appear to be settling into their new home well.

A red fox & miscellaneous meanderings.

The welcome wagon. Here one of MANY chippy's living here joins my welcome statue waiting to greet any visitors!

Luckily Diesel's gang is released. We had a pretty windy couple of days and a large tree snapped like a twig. 360 degrees to fall in and it of course goes right for the release pen...marked by the arrow. The upper branches are wedged on another tree preventing it from going all the way down....for now.......

Ran into Mo again Monday night. Only had the cell phone camera, thus the poor picture quality....but it was great to see him! He looks great. He's pretty skittish....he'll come in while I'm there but won't come near me and will take off if I don't keep a certain distance from him. I'll have to suffice to be allowed in his presence! LOL

Another surprise at the feeding station that was originally for the skunks but has become a great place to see everyone else! This time it's a red fox. Too bad the coonies already polished off all the food!