Raccoons!

I want to make a post dedicated entirely to raccoons. These impish little punks are so endearing, you can't help but love them. They are inquisitive and each have unique personalities. They will use their little hands to pull anything sitting next to their cage inside to play with. They wash their food before they eat it.

They always sleep in piles, and when they don't have another raccoon to cuddle, will resort to this:

I love you, water bowl.

When first born, they are no larger than the size of a hamster. But they still have the adorable striped tail and mask. Just look at his little paws.

Try and resist the cute, I dare you.

They would make terrible pets, but I really enjoy raising them at work. They are little trouble makers, feisty and far too curious. Absolutely marvelous animals.

The most livid I have ever been in my life

See this, kids? This is why you don't raise wildlife without a license. Or a brain. I don't recall feeling this absolutely infuriated in my life. This person's "caring" probably gave this baby raccoon metabolic bone disease.

I don't care how cute they are. I don't care how much you want it for a pet. I don't care how hard it would be on your kids to give whatever fluffy creature you found to a rehabber. Not only is it dangerous, illegal, and expensive for you and your family, you will likely harm the animal in the process. If it is a rabies vector species and the health department finds out you have handled it without gloves, guess who gets beheaded and tested for rabies? By some unjust law of man, not the idiot who picked up the skunk/raccoon/bat with their bare hands.

TL;DR: Abuse wildlife and I will find you and punch you in the face.

Babies!

Well, folks, I have a new camera. And you all know what that means: tons of new pictures!

We have a few new creatures I would like to highlight. First of all, this newly hatched bobwhite quail. I have never even seen an adult, but this little guy got separated from his family and now lives in our bird room.

He makes this tiny peeping sound whenever you open his incubator. He is what you call precocial, where he is born ready to run and forage for himself.

Remember the famous lyrics from Pocahontas? "Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon, or asked a grinning bobcat why he grins?"

I always was skeptical of that line, because I had never seen a bobcat, much less one that smiled. Well, bobcats actually grin.

Bobette is my favorite animal on the property, I'll be honest. How could she not be, with that face?


You know what doesn't get enough love? Opossums. Everyone thinks they are a pest, or dirty. But clearly, not everyone has encountered baby possums.

They are my favorite when they are about hamster sized. Still small enough to not care if you need to hold them to feed them or clean their cages, but old enough to have personalities.

They have prehensile tails, and stick to everything like velcro. Seriously, how can you resist that face?