From one of the women on the raccoon Yahoo group I’m on … i love their stories so much … many are touching like this one is…
FROM DIANE:
My heart goes out for your coons. This has brought tears of sadness to me. Please to not put them down if you are able to recapture them. I do believe that there is some one in this group that knows of a Coon Haven for coons with disability’s. And maybe they will help me out here, of who they are and the correct place of where they are located if I am wrong. I believe it was in the State of Connecticut.
Get the cat food out and in the cages with plenty of water. Oh do not forget the marshmallows. Talk to them in a soft low voice and they will allow you to catch them. My heart goes out to you and them and I will be praying for them.
While you are trying to catch them, call the Vet and let him or her know what is going on. Ask if there is some way they would be able to help you out with the bills that you will get with all these problems. Go ahead and cry while you are talking with the Vet, and see what happens.
Then go ahead and keep them over the winter and they all should be healed. When spring comes, open the cage and let them come and go as they please. And just maybe some like what happened to me below will happen to you. Please read it.
I remember when I was a very young girl, my very first coon that I took in was one that was very young and it had a can caught on his hand. It was a can that someone used a can opener on and did not take the top all the way off. They had pushed the lid in after they removed the contents and threw the can out. This is where the young coon put his hand in and could not get it out. And he was running under the bird feeder in our yard trying to find food to eat. My father said if I could catch it, that he would help me take care of the wound.
This is when I learned that God had given me a Very Special gift. I went out to the bird feeder and offered some chicken to it and he came right to me. It was as if I had a movie playing in my head of how it happened and he was asking me to help him. He crawled right in my lap and ate the chicken that was offered and while still on my lap leaned over and drank some water that I brought with the chicken. He tried to wash off the can and was unable to. Then he pull back and look right in my eyes and it was as if I heard him say help me. I talked to him in a very soft voice saying I will help you and I reached down to try and remove the can. He started to lick my had as I tried to remove it.
I was unable to. So I carried him into the house and my mother had a fit. My father came over to see what he could do, and the coon started to growl and hiss and back away from him.
My father said, if we go to the Vet with him, I would have to pay the Vet Bill. I agreed and off to the Vet we went. As we were going to the Vet I wondered how much it would cost, because I only got a 26 cents a week for allowance from my father if all chores were done. Our allowance was really just a quarter, but he said if we bought anything they would charge use tax, so my father would give me a penny more for tax. When we got to the Vet, The coon would not let him near him and the Vet could not believe that I was able to be holding him with out any problems. So the Vet told me to put the gas mask on him, so he could put him to sleep. I told the coon what I was going to do, and the Vet told me that the coon did not know what I was saying. That little coon look at the Vet and then look at me and I told the coon I had to put his face in the mask and so the coon looked at the Vet once more and he put his face right in the mask and held it there until he was a sleep. The Vet was shocked. No struggles, the coon did what I was suppose to do.
When the can was finally removed, the damage was so great, that the foot had to be removed. The Vet allowed me to stay during the procedure and I was getting pictures in my head from the coon while it was being done. The whole time I was talking to the coon and letting him know what had to be done. The Vet told me that the coon could could not hear me and would not know what I was saying. I told the Vet that he was wrong, that the coon did know and could hear even though he was out cold. When the Vet had finished, I took the coon home because the Vet did not want a Wild Animal over night in his Animal hospital. Explained to my father that the coon would go crazy when he woke up and gave him pill to calm him down and pills for pain.
The Vet Charged me $75 dollars for the surgery and the pills. My father told The Vet that I would be paying the bill. The Vet ask me how was I going to pay the bill. I to him I would bring him my allowance every week.
Every week, I would walk almost 15 miles to give the Vet my allowance. He would get 26 cents. Some times a little more if I could find a job washing a car or cutting grass. When I went to make my fifth payment, I walk into the office, and their was no one there. I heard all sorts of noises in a room where the door was closed. I started to see picture in my mind like a video and I heard the dog say it is a tooth that hurts, help me. I opened the door and there was the man with a big German Shepard, the Vet and the Vets assistant try to put a mask on the dog, to put him to sleep so they could figure out what was wrong. The dog was acting very mean at the time. The Vet yelled at me to get out before I get bit. I said he will not bite me, and I walked over to the dog and stared to pet him. Everyone in the room could hardly believe there eyes of what they were seeing. The dog calmed right down. I told the Vet that he had a tooth ache, and I lifted the back upper lip to show them. And sure enough, the gum Line was puffed up red with a big yellow spot right above a tooth. I told the Vet that the Tooth was split and need to come out and drained. First he need to be put to sleep to get a better look at it. So I told the dog what had to be done and I asked for the mask and it was handed to me and the dog put his nose in it and went to sleep. Sure enough the tooth was split and and to be pulled and the abscess drained. The Vet told the man that I claim that the animals talk to me. And the man said that he believed me, and he should also.
Well the Vet had me work the rest of my bill off working for him. Lets get back to the coon.
Where was I now. Oh I brought the coon home and my dad thought that the coon was going to go crazy when he woke up. I told my Dad not to worry, everything was going to be alright. When the coon woke up there was no problem with him and I, however he did not like anyone else going near him. That is when he would get very mean and climb right up me. But I had complete control of him. It took about 8 weeks for the leg to heal. And about another 4 weeks for the hair to start growing back to normal on it. He learned how to run on three legs, and still use the end of his leg when he eat.
I wanted at that time to turn him loose back to the wild where he belonged. But I was scared that he would not make it because winter was coming and I feared Frost bite on that leg. So I talked to the coon and he said that he sleeps a lot during the winter, but he did not know if he could find food with a bad leg. So I kept hem over the winter.
When Spring came, I really did not want to let him go, but I knew he had to be free and back in the wild. I left his cage door opened and gave him plenty of food and water. First he would leave for only an hour or so, but slowly the time increased till the day he did not come home. Then I would see him come home every once in a while to see if there was cat food left in his cage. I always made sure there was something in there just in case. He looked good and even though he walking funny when he did walk on that leg, he was able to survive.
For the next 6 years he came home during the winter and stay with me. He had pain in that leg during the winter rand the Vet gave me Predaizone (sp) to give him for the pain. Every Spring he would leave and I was always on the look out for him and would get to see him every so often. I found myself looking forward for winter to come when he would come home.
On the 7 year he did not return to stay for the winter with me. I knew then that he was gone and I wondered what happened to him. I would think about how cars hit coons in the road. About hunters and the trappers. I found myself checking the roads to see if got hit. I tried to make contact with my mind, but I seen nothing. I knew hew was dead.
I remember the good times and how he taught me many thing about Wild Life and how they needed to be free. I have taken care of many other wild animals while he was gone and even had a few when he would return during the winter. Each and everyone was always returned to the Forrest where they belong. But stubby hold a special place in my heart and always will. I cried many nights that winter. I can remember when I would think of him I could close my eye and see him and know where he was and what he was doing. I never really got over his death, and this brings tears to my eyes now and it is hard to finish writing this.
My prayers will be with you and the coons. I you let me know where you are located, I may be able to make contact with them. Some times I can and some times I am unable to. I do not tell to many people about this, because when they hear about it, they think that I am crazy. But that is OK they think that I am crazy to spend my money on caring and release wild life already.
May the Lord Our God Bless you and the Coon and give you the strength to do what you need to do.
Yahshuah’s Servant,
Diane
laundalee <launda@> wrote:
Tonight one of my released raccoons showed up here mutilated. His left ear was chewed off and as I looked him over I noticed his right rear paw was chewed off at the elbow joint. What would do that to a raccoon? I thought maybe a trap but what would cause the ear tear, not a trap. It was so sad and I tried to catch him to euthanize as he smelled like decay, but he got away from me. It is bothering me so much, the site of him in that condition and the thought he is out there suffering. It was almost dark so now I have to wait until light to try to locate him.
We do have coyotes around but haven’t heard any lately, no dogs I know of, pretty isolated here. I had one show up with a head gash last week and another tonight with an eye missing. I have never had injuries like this after releasing them here. Just wondering if anyone knows what would cause injuries like these.
launda
Indiana
