A Contribution from Ladybird co-founder Janine Stoll
Last weekend my husband and I discovered a wee, baby raccoon in the middle of the busy country side road in front of our house. Crying and seemingly abandoned, we brought him over to our lot to keep him away from the road. As the day wore on we watched him closely and tried to keep him safe from passing cars. When night came our best option was to leave him in a box without a lid with a blanket in the hopes that the mother would hear his cries and return to claim him. Without knowing really what to feed him, we gave him some plain yogurt. Later we discovered that raccoons don’t digest cow’s milk so well, but yogurt is ok in a pinch.
By morning, we discovered the baby fast asleep in the box. We kept the baby for the next 24 hours, feeding him KMR Kitten Milk with a syringe and trying to keep him happy. The following day we took him to Niagara Wildlife Haven in Welland, Ontario. Founder, Marie-Catharine, greeted us at the door and happily took the baby in after inspecting him. It turned out that the baby was only about 4 weeks old, had some fly strikes, fleas and mites and was also anemic. The good news is that he did not have rabies or distemper which are both quite common.
Niagara Wildlife Haven was the ideal place to bring a baby raccoon in this situation. This little guy will have the opportunity to be raised among 40 other raccoons who are also being rehabilitated at the haven. Raccoons need to have a fear of humans in order to survive in the wild. They do not make good domestic pets. In order for an orphaned raccoon to survive in the wild they must also be well socialized with their peers. Niagara Wildlife Haven will make all of this possible for the baby. The approximate cost to rehabilitate a raccoon is $250. Niagara Wildlife Haven relies on donations of money, food and pet items from the public in order to continue doing the amazing work that they do for our local wildlife. Come September, the baby will be old enough (and wise enough) to be released safely into the wild.
We’d like to thank Marie-Catharine at Niagara Wildlife Haven for doing such amazing selfless work for wild animals in need in our communities. Please donate to these wonderful people so they can continue to save the lives of animals in need.
