Helped save a baby raccoon last night

Last night as I was about to take our Lab outside to do her final business of the evening my husband, who was upstairs, called out to me that I’d better wait to go out because there were two people loitering around on the corner across the street. So I went upstairs to peek out the bedroom window at them.

Chris and I live in a nice neighborhood which luckily seems to have few robberies and very few undesirable people wandering around … but occasionally when I’ve gone out late at night they’ll be a drunk person wandering around (there are some bars within walking distance) or occasionally a group of teens that sound rowdy (more so in the summer). For the most part the neighborhood is peaceful and makes me feel safe though.

Anyway … when I went upstairs to see who was hanging out on the corner I saw a guy standing by what looked like a bulky bag on the ground. He was standing near a black car with it’s engine on. Then I saw a woman get out of the car. She walked over the “bag” on the ground, bent down and started petting it.

That’s when I began to think that it might really be a dog lying on the sidewalk that had been hit by a car. Chris took a closer look and said it was a small raccoon. So I went downstairs to get the address and phone number for the Toronto Humane Society. I know they are open 24 hours and they do some wildlife rehab. We’ve taken injured birds there in the past.

Chris and I then went outside to talk with the couple who were standing over the young raccoon. Well actually Chris walked over to them while I took the dog out to do her business. Then when Chris came back over to our side of the street we went in to find a box for the raccoon and left the dog in the house.

The couple said that they’d stopped their car because they saw the raccoon weaving across the road. It was likely hit by a car. Another neighbor had come out before we did to give them a blanket to wrap around the poor little thing … hence the “bag” look that I’d seen from an upstairs window.

The raccoon was drooling and dazed. There was some blood mixed in with the drool so it might have been hit in the head maybe by a cars bumper or tire? I couldn’t see the rest of it’s body as it was wrapped in the blanket.

The other woman and I moved the raccoon into the box to get it off the cold sidewalk. It was docile as we moved it.

The couple had called the Humane Society and were referred to a wildlife rehab place out of town. So they were standing there watching over the raccoon that was probably only a few months old and waiting for the wildlife people to show up. Apparently the place is located West of Toronto so it was going to take about an hour for them to arrive. I’m not sure how long they’d been out there with the raccoon before we noticed them, but we went out at 11:50 pm and came in at 20 after 12 so they’d been waiting more than a half hour just from the time we saw them to when we went inside.

We suggested that they just take the raccoon to the Humane Society. The River street location is open 24 hours. They agreed since they had no idea when the wildlife people would show up. They did call the wildlife place before they left with the boxed raccoon in their trunk.

I felt bad for the little raccoon. It was so dazed. I have no idea if it’s injuries were something it could recover from or not, but at least the raccoon would get the care it needed at the Humane Society.

Now I know some of you are probably wondering why five people in total would help a little raccoon since they are pests in urban areas … I guess we’re all just soft hearted. I can’t stand to see an animal in pain.

Hopefully the raccoon will recover from it’s injuries. If it’s still alive it’s probably in the hands of the wildlife rehabbers by now and hopefully, if it gets better, it will be released somewhere outside the city.