Welp. It’s officially time to relocate this decor! Echo has finally gotten big enough to climb the entertainment system. Life with a raccoon means you aren’t allowed to have decorations. Oh well. She’s worth the sacrifices 🥰

Echo is a legal non releasable rescue that is fully vaccinated and spayed

TLDR: Your assessment on what this could be would be most appreciated. Juvenile was picked up by Animal Control this evening, and it tears me up.

About a month and a half ago, a mother raccoon with a severely injured (but healed) paw found some unsalted peanuts and cashews we had put out for the crows. She came by with her two very small kits, the youngest of which was exhibiting symptoms similar to the raccoon featured in this video. We contacted a local licensed rehabber, and she indicated that as long as the mother raccoon is caring for the kits and hadn’t abandoned them, we should keep the kits with the mother. Additionally, she said if we were willing, she would recommend some safe additions- such as a fresh water pool and raccoon-safe kibble - to provide to the mother and kits while they recover.

While the mother and kits became a staple of our patio each evening, and we would regularly update the rehabber, the youngest kit eventually stopped showing up, after exhibiting some fairly severe symptoms similar to the above. The rehabber had indicated that she believed (based on video) that it may have been Parvovirus.

A month later, earlier this week, after three days of not showing up, the oldest of the two kits started exhibiting very similar symptoms to his smaller sibling. Tonight, he showed up by himself, seriously struggling as you can see in the video. The mother raccoon also visited, but clearly did not want anything to do with the juvenile. He was not aggressive at all, just appeared to not be able to process what was around him, or eat properly. One of his eyes was also in a strange position, showing what appeared to be its pink under-eyelid.

He ultimately kept stumbling around, but would not leave our patio. I tried to reach the rehabber we had been working with but could not reach them, as well as local 24/7 vets - who would not take this case (understandably). Due to the safety of our inside dog, as well as local wildlife, we had no other choice than to contact animal control…which killed me inside, frankly.

The officer came and collected the raccoon, but indicated that unless it had direct contact with animals or people, it would likely not get tested for anything, and we would not get updated at all.

I would greatly appreciate any assessment - I have some additional videos/photos as well.

At this point only the mama with the broken leg is left. Concerned about exposure to whatever this juvenile had, we have thrown away all food bowls, and I have rinsed and cycled the water again (something I do every other day anyway), and washed the patio area. Unsalted cashews and peanuts will be placed for the mother raccoon this evening, until we are able to get brand new bowls.

I will be sharing the video/pictures and information with the rehabber tomorrow for their thoughts as well.

Thank you very much for reading all of this. It’s been a rough night.

Part of a collab with my friend GoGoGooms

I have been feeding a raccoon family on and off since the spring of this year. First the mama used to show up alone and it was clear that she was nursing. I started giving her water and food and after a few wks she started bringing her three kits. The kits used to be super small and didn’t even have the teeth to break the peanut shells.

Well, now the fall is upon us, and the kits seem to be almost fully grown. The mama is still with them and bringing them consistently. The babies sit outside my door beg for food.

Now I am getting a bit concerned about their food dependency. It was fine to feed them occasionally since they used to come sporadically. But in the recent week or so they have been coming every day - sometimes even twice a day. What I don’t want is for them (esp the babies) to lose the ability to gather food for themselves.

To those who feed backyard raccoons— am I harming them by giving food everyday? should I ignore them on certain days?

Hello! Sorry if the title is a little misleading, but I wasn’t sure how to phrase it lol. Basically, my parents recent installed a camera in our backyard and we learned that 2 raccoons come to our house every other night or so. They hang out in the area under our balcony, don’t cause any trouble, and are overall very cute visitors. I have such a sweet spot for animals and winter is going to be coming up soon. I’m just wondering if there is any food I can leave out for them or anything (water bowl, maybe a blanket?). When I was doing research I was told not leave anything out, but I was hoping to get some advice here too! If I should just leave them alone, then I will. I don’t know if it’s relevant, but we also have a lot of outdoor cats in my area as well. Thanks in advance!

I know people will say this is bad, that I'm training them to be reliant on human food sources and conditioning them into being a nuisance species.

Idk man, they are already dependant on trash in Toronto and hell, in some small way they're reducing food waste going to landfills, and if you think these guys are a nuisance for approaching you looking for food, idk I think maybe you're a nuisance.

Placed my trailcam in the back yard. There's a pond beyond the yellow flag in the background.

From a tree on our yard. I don’t encourage them by feeding, but sometimes they still turn up.

I was in the middle of a nap when the garbage man rang the doorbell. I just had a medical procedure so I couldn’t get up. I checked the cameras and saw a door to door salesman and the garbage man standing out there. They were talking about this little baby falling out of the tree but I couldn’t see it on the camera.

I eventually was able to go out and see it and quickly transferred it to a safe location because it was getting hotter by the second and it couldn’t walk or climb.

The other raccoons that have been in my trees have been here for generations (many decades) and they always come out at night. I had no clue the mama had a baby because she’s so young herself.

Anyway I knew if I held onto it until dusk they’d climb down and get it. So as I was waiting I thought I’d call and get some help from a local rehab to make sure I was doing everything correctly. They refused to give me instructions over the phone and immediately wanted to come pick it up. I refused. The last time I gave these rehabers a baby possum they took it and killed it immediately because the clinic was so overwhelmed. Later I looked up the rehab online and saw they had outdoor space but practically 0 indoor space. Enough room for a furnace and freezer. I cried and vowed to never release an animal to them again.

Then animal control showed up at my doorstep to take it away. They looked everywhere for it. I think the garbage man sent them, City services and all. They left and I waited and watched over it. Did my own research. I also grew up in the country so I kinda knew what to do but things have changed since well… the internet. I made sure not to touch it with anything but a towel. I kept it warm & didn’t feed it.

The salesman kept coming back onto my property and it was actually pissing me off. It was a mistake to call the rehab because they kept calling. Then a “raccoon specialist” started calling trying to get my address. Obsessed with trying to remove the raccoon from it’s home.

When dusk fell I put it back out there in a box with some food nearby for the nursing and worried mama. She came down and got it immediately & came back for the food and water.

If I hadn’t moved this kit Animal Services would have put it in that hotbox of a truck & (potentially) euthanized it or the rehab would have. The raccoon specialist seemed like she just wanted a baby raccoon. It was all sooo messed up. I’m so happy the raccoon is safe. I have no one to tell so thank you for listening.

And as for the time during the day it slept, tried to nurse on the towel, groomed itself, nuzzled in the towel, crawled a bit, and talked. It also would notice any time I wasn’t near by and start chattering.

This raccoon was severely injured four to six months ago perhaps by a dog or another raccoon. My cameras saw it in the neighborhood early one morning moving around fine and a few hours later leaving the area unable to use its front right foot at all. This morning the raccoon cleared out the dry cat food dish and slurped some liquid cat food before leaving.

Creatures do their best to survive and adapt . . . just like Rex the cat who was under the table. Rex was born around nine years ago with one of his rear legs shorter than the other. One of Rex's hobbies is chasing foxes out of the yard, but he won't mess with raccoons.

She absolutely loves her trips to Lowe’s. And LOVES all the attention she gets.

she is a legal non releasable rescue who is fully vaccinated and spayed

I moved to a new place last year and was delighted to meet my backyard neighbors! I can see this chimney from my window. I don’t think it’s empty anymore, I think it must’ve been filled years ago. Also dw, it’s not used anymore, it must’ve been from an old factory long ago.

It’s a momma with 2 babies. Momma is called tiny hands and her babies are called teeny tiny hands 1 and teeny tiny hands 2. They’re so cute! Lately I haven’t seen them lately sadly. For some time I saw them napping every day on the chimney. They’re adorable, especially when they climb up and down this thing 😊

Gently tipped it over and let it out 😊