Mom coon & babies get a second chance.

Some people amaze me! Got a call from the Animal Control Officer. A homeowner decided to trap the raccoon on their property (illegal!!!!!). So they catch it in the trap....then just leave it there....FOR ALMOST 2 DAYS!!!...until all of a sudden they hear crying in the attic. So now they decide to call a licenced pest control agency to deal with whatever is making that noise!

He finds 3 starving baby coons up there! Normally he could just release mom and leave kits out for her to collect...but nooooooooo.....ewwwww...we don't want that animal around here!....the homeowners won't let him release her there. So now he's got a dilemma. He can't relocate an adult....if he takes her he's got to euthanize her. Thank god he had heart and contacted animal control to see if there were any options before doing that...and thank god this animal control officer actually cares about animals to be willing to help them all...not just loose dogs (because believe it or not, many could care less unfortunately!)

She called me and of course...I'll take them all!! We have an open pen at Mary's and mom will do all the work, we just have to give her a safe place to do so!

So animal control got mom and babies, reunited them and brought them to me. Considering it all, mom was pretty relaxed....tending to her kits without trying to kill us through the crate.

The reunited family....

Lisa helped me get the crate into Mary's pen. Then I set it up with food and water, opened the crate door and stepped back to keep an eye on things. Mom came right out and explored the pen.

She calmly checked things out while I was in there....quietly avoiding me but accepting my presence without alarm. (It's a BIG pen...she didn't have to be too close to me.)

Finally she found the den box and crawled in there. I sat around for a while waiting for her to go back down and claim her screaming kids! It was on the cool side and I wanted to make sure they made it to the warm cozy den box with mom. Finally I couldn't take it any longer! (plus I had another round of feeding to get to.) I took the babies and put them up in the box with her. She collected them from the entrance and after everyone settled in and all was quiet I snuck away.

So my question is this....what were you people going to do, just leave her in the trap till she died? What would have happened if those babies hadn't started crying...thus freaking you out and leading you to call someone for help?? How would you feel being left in a trap without food, water and shelter for any extended period....not to mention being separated from your now starving babies!! Being clueless I'll give you that the baby thing never even occurred to you....but leaving any living thing trapped like that.......come on! That is why it is illegal for unlicensed homeowners to trap things....because some of you just don't care or are ignorant enough to cause a living thing to suffer like that unnecessarily!

Sorry....rant over, off my soapbox now!