Neighborhood Racoons

Neighborhood Racoons

One morning when I was on my way out for some errands, a huge mama racoon and four cute fur balls were looking at me with question marks in their big round eyes. A family of five was at the foot of a big cedar tree. To me the encounter was a pleasing surprise as in our neighborhood we do not often see racoons in bright day lights.

Once they saw me coming, the mother racoon frantically led the pack to escape from this human intruder. Mom and three of the kits managed to slip through the fence and scampered into the neighbor’s yard. The one left behind seemed to have a problem following what others did. Suddenly this little furry creature was seen on the top of the fence. When it scaled down from the high fence in such a hurry to join its family, it landed in the neighbor’s pool instead. Luckily the swimming hole was covered with thick plastic sheets. The poor thing had to skate on the wet and slippery surface before getting itself out of the pool and ran into the bush on the other side of the neighbor’s yard.

What I saw of this little ring-tailed neighbor was very entertaining. It also enlightened me to see how ingenious the wild animals are. A little "thing" weighed less than a few pounds knew exactly how to find alternative ways to protect itself. Perhaps we, the humans, can learn a few things from the wild animals. So we will also know among other things how to pull ourselves out of the harm’s way. - Ayee