This story is from Karen Inman.
This story is about Chubaca raccoon. We received a call from a man, saying that the storms the night before had brought a hugh oak tree down. He said that he had seen a raccoon in a hole in the tree and when the tree came down, the hole was now on the ground and the raccoon was unable to get out. He had told us that he knew where the hole was, but he had no idea that the tree was hollow so far down the trunk. He decided to take the chainsaw and cut the tree in pieces, below the hole and above the hole so he could turn the piece of trunk over to expose the hole and let the raccoon escape.

He was very distraught when he called saying he had no idea that the raccoon was a mother with three babies. When he cut through the tree, the mother grabbed one baby and ran. There were two others left there and one baby was dead while the other baby was severely injured by the chainsaw. The man said to please tell me where you are and I am on my way with the injured baby.

Upon receiving the baby, we found that he apparently rode the side of the chainsaw. It had shaved up his right side and under his front arm. It almost took his front arm off at the shoulder and I was not sure if the baby would die or lose his arm or both.

We decided to call him Chubaca, because the chainsaw had chewed his arm up so badly. The baby was only about 7 days old and the arm had to be pinned until he was about 6 weeks old for his arm to heal enough to take the bandages off. We were able to save the arm, however there was so much damage done to it, he was unable to climb well and the arm was smaller and shorter than his other arm.

Because he was a single baby and there was so much work and time spent on him, he was very tame.

I had spent so much time trying to save him that we decided to apply for a permit to keep him as a permanent animal. He has done very well as a captive animal and loves everyone. He is now 8 years old and is as sweet as he ever was, but no matter who pays attention to him, he is still a mama’s boy.