Abandoned raccoon kits are getting a head start on a life in the outdoors by dedicated volunteers at the Woodside Wildlife Rescue in Pass Christian, South Mississippi. After losing their families through hurricanes or car accidents, raccoon kits get a hands-on refresher on how to hunt, swim, and hide from predators, with humans drilling them through a boot-camp-like outdoor playground.
The care package at the facility also includes attending to sick and injured animals, and a send-off ceremony before releasing the skilled trash pandas back to nature, where they hopefully steer clear of humans and the dangers urban settlements can bring.
Taking in Abandoned Raccoon Kits
The raccoon kits that arrive at the Woodside Wildlife Rescue have lost their mothers, for instance, through storms or traffic accidents. Before taking them in, the organization, together with city animal control and citizens, will try to reunite them with their mothers, but already this year, 76 kits were raised in their facility, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Woodside Wildlife Rescue’s founder Paula Woodside describes how young raccoons often arrive scared and defensive, and despite the animals’ sharp claws and the dirty nature of this job, notes the importance of supporting their head start before releasing them back to nature.
Explore All OptionsFounded in 2019, this volunteer-run organization uses scientifically proven protocols to guide its rescue, rehabilitation, and release efforts, with the goal of preserving the natural environment. Besides raccoons, Woodside Wildlife Rescue also supports other indigenous animals, like birds, squirrels, foxes, and bats, as described on their website.
Read More: Raccoons May Thrive in Our Backyards Due to Their Insatiable Curiosity and Love for Puzzles
Raccoons Learn Survival Skills from Volunteers
Before raccoon kits can hone their survival skills in the outdoors through versatile parkour, some still need to be bottle-fed indoors, and all of them receive vaccines against diseases that can be carried by cats or dogs.
The organization’s 20-acre rural property provides perfect learning opportunities for the young animals, with meadows, thick forests, several ponds, and a river. Alongside the volunteers, who use a hands-on approach to show the kits how to fend for themselves outdoors, they learn how to dig for food, break open nuts, catch fish in the water, and hunt after small prey.
Because Mississippi is hurricane country, they also teach raccoon kits how to swim by taking them out with kayaks. In the forest, the younglings learn how to move between trees and how to hide from predators. The volunteers even use acoustic signals, such as a shrill trilling sound to imitate a raccoon’s danger call and whistling to communicate.
A Graduation Ceremony for Raccoons
Before raccoons are released into nature, they have to pass one last exercise. To help them avoid traps and also humans in the future when they live in the wild, volunteers trap them in a cage and give them a good scare.
The rehabilitation process takes approximately six months and ends in a final graduation ceremony, involving Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance Marches” and calling each kit’s name before they’re released. Even for the animals that die in the rescue’s care, there is a second ceremony that honors them as well.
The facilitators told AP that young raccoons may learn the survival skills the team teaches on their own, but they hope the training will give them a better chance of survival and help them thrive in their natural environment.
Read More: Is Trash Evolving Raccoons Into the Next Household Pet?
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from Woodside Wildlife Rescue
- This article references information from the Associated Press: A raccoon boot camp in Mississippi teaches abandoned kits survival skills
