Stumpy Junior

In the prior post I noted the trouble the young tailless Northern Raccoon, that we called Stumpy Jr., had climbing the tree up to the flying squirrel feeders.

Things deteriorated over the next couple of days.

We noticed that Stumpy Jr. was by itself in the yard, mom and siblings nowhere to be seen. As noted in that previous post we were putting peanut butter closer to the ground. And one night Junior came but didn't eat the food. It seemed very frightened.

Patty and I figured that we would need to catch it and take it to the Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge rehab center if it were to have a chance to survive.

And yesterday I as I was sitting in my home office I spotted it out by our fish pond. And as can be seen in the image below* I was able to catch it.

It wasn't hard. Using a blanket and a cardboard box I calmed it down and scooped it into the box. The poor thing was weak and scared. I snapped this one image, gave it the blanket to snuggle under, and closed up the box. As Cedar Run was already closed for the day it needed to spend the night in our care. Fortunately Cedar Run has instructions on their website for this situation.

Our garage has two small side rooms, one of which has a freezer in it, which keeps that room nice and warm. And with it in the garage no other critters can get in at it. Nor could it get out, which was important because, despite considering and then determining it was too weak to break through the cardboard, it broke through the cardboard. So when I went to check on it in the morning it was gone.

However, we quickly relocated and recaptured it, put it in a plastic storage container, and loaded Junior into Patty's new car (more on that later) and headed off to the rehab center.

There it will join ten other Northern Raccoons also being cared for. Raccoons are resilient critters and the prognosis for Junior is good. And we know we left it in good hands.

👁👁👁👁👁

* Red-eye reduction does nothing for blue-green eyes.