Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto
Wordless Wednesday
Isn’t that fantastic Cat-oflauge?
That’s one well hidden cat. I wonder what it was lying in wait for … perhaps a mouse or small bird?
I wonder where this cat hides in the Spring, Winter and Summer … it seems to have found the best camoflauge for the autumn season!
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.
Wordless Wednesday
Poor pathetic looking tiny tiny wet kitten!
I think cats are one of the funniest looking creatures when wet.Â
They look scrawny, tiny (and this kitten really is tiny!) and their eyes look abnormally HUGE. The big whiskers and ears don’t help all that much either.
Isn’t this a cute picture though? I wonder why such a young kitten needed a bath?
Yesterday evening after my husband had been watching a show about California’s green energy program a show about Skunks came on PBS. It was part of their Nature series.
I’ve always been kind of fascinated by skunks. There were several in my hometown neighborhood in Ottawa, and now that we have our own house here in Toronto I’ve noticed that we have a number of skunks around here too.
I’ve never had a problem with skunks. If I see one I stay away from it and try not to startle it. Plus I know that they don’t climb, so our yard being solidly fenced all the way around (in the back) it’s unlikely that we’ll have any skunks in our backyard unless they dig under the fence.
Now that we have a dog I’m a little more cautious about skunks. Midnight, our Labrador Retriever (18 months old) thinks every animal or person she comes across is a potential friend. Typical of the breed I believe.
We always walk her on leash in our neighborhood. In part because it’s the law around here and secondly because she’s so excitable I’m afraid she’d run out in front of a car if we didn’t!
There are some nice off leash areas here in Toronto, but the only one that worries me as an area where she might disturb a skunk is the off leash area in Taylor Creek park. It has a large wooded area, trails and of course that pond that she likes to take a dip in every time we go there.
One great tip that I picked up from the “Skunk” show was how to easily remove that skunk smell if you or your dog gets sprayed by a skunk.
Get rid of that skunk spray smell
Go outside with a bucket and the following three ingredients:
Mix the three ingredients together in the bucket. I think it will fizz up, so use it while it’s fresh.
If it’s your dog that’s been sprayed by a skunk use a pitcher or measuring cup to gently pore the solution over your dogs fur. Be careful not to get it in your dogs eyes. Let the solution sit on your dogs fur for about five minutes and then rinse with clean water.
I know the old cure is to bath your dog or yourself in tomato juice but they said on the show that that just covers up or masks the smell for a while … the real cure is the solution I listed above.
One other thing that I learned while I was watching the show was that it seems that where feral cats are located in cities there are often a lot of skunks. In one town discussed on the show the cats and skunks were actually hanging out together. Since there were so many skunks in town they were becoming a problem for the residents so once the towns people discovered the correlation between the feral cats and skunks people stopped leaving food out for the free roaming cats and the skunk population went down!
Most of the years we’ve lived here I’ve seen a few free roaming cats regularly visiting my garden during the day and night. I didn’t see them very often last year, but I think that might be because of the dog. Anyway … that got me thinking that we might have more skunks running around this area because of the free roaming cats too. If you’ve noticed the same in your area encourage your neighbors not to leave food out for the cats and other opportunistic animals and maybe you’ll notice a drop in skunks in your general area too.
Wordless Wednesday
I have no idea what kind of animal this is … maybe a small marsupial?
My other thought is that it might even be a bat. Either way, I think it’s adorable.
It’s big round eyes and ears pointed out to the side remind me of the look my dog Midnight gives me when she’s trying to figure out something that I’m telling her.