I Break for Wildlife

A rare raccoon in rehab

The other night, I was driving home after dark, and ahead of me, I could see small figures on the road. I realized there were four to five young raccoons (Procyon lotor), likely following mom. I slammed on my brakes, started honking my horn, and threw on my hazards. The two cars behind me swerved around, thank goodness, but there was no way I was going to plow through a family of raccoons.

Once the card had passed, the road was empty, and I pulled over to assess the situation. Most of the raccoons were gone. One was lying still in the middle of the road, likely deceased, but I still used a shopping bag to move it off the road. Another was closer to the shoulder and crying, obviously injured. I don't know if it had crawled to that location after being hit, or if it was hit by one of the cars that passed me while trying to escape. I moved it off, too, VERY CAREFULLY with the bag, which I threw away later.

A young man going in the opposite direction stopped to offer assistance. I explained there wasn't much we could do at this point. He wanted to help, so I said if the living one was still there in the morning, he could see if the wildlife rehabilitator two towns over would take it.  Most rehabilitations don't take raccoons, but it was worth a shot.

That was always the worst thing when I would answer the phone to a distressed person in a similar situation to the one I was in. You want to help, but the only thing you can do is let nature take its course. It is such a helpless feeling. I managed to save a few raccoons by putting myself at risk of being rear-ended, but I had little hope for the two I moved off the road.

Should I not have stopped my car? I feel like I did the right thing, but I would also probably be singing a different tune had I caused an accident. What I saw in front of me were young lives; I can't take that lightly.

I found it ironic that I would take such a risk for raccoons, which are definitely not high on my list of animals that need protecting. They are aggressive, not afraid of humans, carry all the diseases, and are cruel hunters. There's a reason very few rehabilitators will take them, and even then, only the babies. You cannot safely (for the human or the animal) rehabilitate an adult raccoon.

They do serve their purpose. Believe it or not, the messes they make at the trash cans at the Zoo every night are them being nature's clean-up crew. They don't know that the leftover KFC is not the same as a bird carcass in the wild. They also eat a lot of pests.

They do not, as you may have heard, wash their food. They eat lots of aquatic animals and use their ultra-sensitive hands to feel around in the water and mud to find a snack. If they do take food and place it in water, it is this instinct to look for food in water. However, these sensitive hands also let them open doors, unhook latches, and pull prey, usually chickens and waterfowl, through fences. I've lost more than one feathered friend to these dexterous bandits. 

I guess the question will always come back to, "to break or not to break." That is something each person must decide for themselves. If you are driving behind me, though, be prepared to stop.

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