Just when you specify that you DON"T take raccoons on your rehab license, you come home to find three tucked into a basket on your porch. Sigh. I guess I need to put the sign back up that says "Please don't leave coons on the porch. The freezer's full". Not that it ever worked anyway.
I have a good idea who left them. They called earlier and said." I have raccoons and I know where you live." It sounded like a threat to me. I think they waited around the corner for me to go to the gym and then snuck them in. When we got home, my husband heard them screaming from the car and said, "Ahh, it begins."
Actually the season began several weeks ago with 10 baby squirrels. I just got them to the point where I was no longer getting up in the middle of the night to feed or having to haul them around with me. You can draw quite a crowd at a karate tournament when you are feeding baby squirrels behind the bleachers.
It won't be long before the fawns come and then summer will be really underway. In the meantime, I have mouths to feed and butts to wash. It's just what I do.
News from ranch rehab
Ok, now make that FOUR raccoons that I don't take. I really have to learn how to say the word no.
Just curious, but why do not want to take in Raccoons ?? I know they have the nickname of being a bandit for a reason, but I Would think as long as you were able to release them into the wild MILES away from your home that there wouldn't be a problem, unless that is the problem. Meaning, you do not have the time needed to take them far from your home to a new locale.
Baby raccoons do three things. They eat. They scream. They Poop. Often all at the same time. The DNR also has special regulations as to cage, fencing, and release requirements that make it difficult, such as only coons from one county can be housed together and they must be released into the county they came from. (I live with 2 miles of two additional counties.) Probably the biggest factor is the absolutely overwhelming numbers you have to deal with. If you take one coon, there will be people with a dozen more beating on your door or leaving them in your car. (I lock it now). It costs an average of $35 in formula and food (not counting marshmallows) to raise a coon from baby to release. Few people realise that we do not get paid or reimbursed for expenses and I have limited resources. To date this year, I have already spent $100 in raising 10 squirrels and a bunny. Now multiply that by the dozens of animals that come through here each summer. I'd rather spend the money on Fawns, foxes and bobcats than coons.
I was just wondering if there was a personal reason as to why you don't like or want to take in and rehab coons. Seeing that you have so many requirements placed upon you, not including the expense of buying the items and things needed to rehab them, I understand why you don't want to take them in. I'm sure the added risk of rabies is also part of the reason the State put that restriction that coons can only be released in the county they came from on rehabilitators. As well as to try to cut down on over population of coons in a particular area.
I've raised Sugar Gliders (they are related to Opossums) from about a week after their eyes open until adulthood and they too are expensive to raise. You can easily end up spending $100 just in baby bird formula (Nekton Lori) just to raise a baby Glider from weanling stage to eating fruit on their own without assistance. That doesn't include the loss of sleep from having to feed them every 4 hours, making sure they stay warm, having the appropriately sized creates, having the correct licenses, and everything else that is involved in raising them. Granted, you don't need a license to own a Glider, but you do need one if you are planning to breed and sell the babies to the public. At least that's the way it is where I live.
Of course, every animal is expensive to raise from baby to adult, but even more expensive at times when dealing with sick, injured, or abandoned baby wild animals. However, raising and/or nursing the wildlife back to health is definitely worth the reward no matter which animals you work with. :)