I had a strange job yesterday. Lady called me and said she had two baby raccoons in her yard and would I come and get them? I asked all the usual questions and quoted her a price and agreed. These 2 coons appeared to be about a month old, they were pretty mobile, and weren't real happy when I put them in the transfer cage. When I found them they were cuddled up with each other next to the ladies porch. I looked everywhere trying to figure out where the mother could be plus walked up and down the road to see if she might have got hit by a car -- nothing. My guess was mom disappeared for whatever reason and the little ones left the nest to go and try to find her? What's your thoughts, input would be appreciated!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

PaRay,

Lots of possibilities, including that she just was gone at the moment and would have returned. Could have been killed, trapped by homeowner or another wco in another yard nearby, or any number of things, but many folks remove young that are in no danger, from of course nearly every species.

I had a skunk incident two days ago, skunk had dug under an old slab in the backyard way away from the house, but caretaker thought the hole should be covered, put dirt down in the hole, packed it up and two days later it was dug out again. His thought was, I bet if I put a garden hose down in the hole whatever is in there will come out.

Well, it did, first newborn skunks floated out to the top of the hole, then mama skunk came ripping out soaking wet and muddy and very unhappy.
They called me to see what they should do or could do as they had not interest in harming the litter.

When I arrived mama had already returned to the hole, but 4 of the litter (there were more way down in where she was that didn't flood out) with eyes still closed just a few days old were stuck in the mud near the mouth of the hole and vocalizing their displeasure.

I looked down in the hole, could see her cowering way in the back, she finally went to the others that were vocalizing leaving this other crew in the mud. I picked them all up, put them in the pocket of my fleece and after we gave them a quick wash and rinse (odor free, just warm water and clean scent free cloth), they were put back on a hot water bottle in the mouth of the hole wrapped in a couple of clean rags.

She was out looking for them when we arrived and by morning they were all removed with tracks leading to several clumps of dense thorn bushes.

Not a typical day or scenario, but was interesting to see.

Yes many homeowner would have wanted her and them gone, these folks have no dogs, no access to anything else around their home, no crawlspaces, etc... and the slab was 50 yards from the back door, they never knew they had skunks there in the first place.

The old "if you care leave them there" is something repeated by friends of mine who are rehabbers all summer long. Lots and lots of folks find baby rabbits, raccoon, skunk, even bats, and of course birds and decide they are in dire straits.

Yesterday I stopped at a day spa that got my name through a rehab center. They were providing water to a den of rock squirrel pups (4-5 of them) because they weren't seeing mama anywhere. Folks do all kinds of things when it comes to young animals.

Though I suppose I prefer to see that, then hear about the "I trapped this problem X (fill in the blank, skunk, raccoon, opossum, etc...) in my yard and then I now have an odor and think maybe it had babies," or "I had no problem trapping the problem animal in my attic, didn't take any special guy to come do it for me and I didn't have to pay anything! But now I hear some movement up there, or smell something up there...."

Those scenarios are the ones I'd prefer not to hear!

Justin

wildlife moves by the sun/moon table,,,,,not darkness....

Seen it many times,,, Next time you see a coyote out in the field in the middle of the day,,,,,or a beaver swimming in the pond,,,check the hunt/fish tables for YOUR area.

Good point Vinke! Too many that call all of us feel it is strange to see any wildlife out during daylight, even when there are a myriad of natural reasons for it.

Now there is something that Justin and I have in common and I didn't know it. He is the only other guy I know ( Besides myself ) that would have done his best to save a family of skunks. Of course, you need to take into consideration that I have a terrible sense of smell, so the whole thing is a lot easier for me.

P.S. Have any of you noticed that skunks that haven't sprayed, smell a whole lot nicer than just about any other wild animal their size? ( I just reread that question and for most of you that has to be the dumbest question of the week )

PaRay, my guess is that even though you didn't find the body, I think that Mrs. Raccoon is no longer with us. We should start getting calls similar to yours pretty soon.

Paul, was the highlight of my week! Last year I had 4 or 5 calls for skunk litters on their own, but they were all a few weeks along and eating whole food already, these little buggers were brand new to the world, always interesting to see such young wildlife and was happy it ended well.

On a side note, we figured even if we used a bit of soap to clean them (which we didn't), ma skunk likely could have still smelled her own perfume on them.