St. Johns Wildlife Care, Inc.  "Ricky and Ruby Raccoons"
 Friday, December 5.2003
 By Patty Shaw
 Southern Comfort News and Views...St. Augustine South

    In October I was called across the street by my neighbor, Lester
Wilson, on Queen Rd. He told me he had a roof problem which he has repaired with
a patch, for now. '''The roof is not a problem, I can fix that , but I don't know
what to do about this problem" he said, while pointing to a box sitting on
the floor of his garage. I didn't know what to expect as he gingerly lifted the lid to the box.
    I stood back a little as I did not know if something was about to leap
out towards me.  I peeked into the box and saw two, little furry, baby somethings.
    When one of them moved, due to being disturbed, I could see they were
tiny raccoons. Lester had been getting ready to set off some bug bombs in his attic
when he discovered the babies. I of course went back into my house for my camera
and fetched the phone numbers I keep on my refrigerator. I wrote down two,
of the many HELP PLEASE numbers, under some of those magnets.
    One for Florida Wildlife and the other for St. Johns Wildlife. Karen
Inman of St. Johns Wildlife answered Lester's call and she was over at the
house in less than an hour.
   Karen told us the raccoons were about 18 days old.
She gave us quite an education regarding raccoons. She was so
interesting. I plan to have her be a guest speaker in the very near future.
She told us she has 50 creatures, not counting these two, 33 are soon
to be released into the wild.
She mainly cares for raccoons but also has a fox, a opossum, and a
bobcat, and when I spoke to her on the phone she was busy feeding a baby
rat.
    The raccoons are released when they are about 6 months old. Karen
searched the attic for more babies and for the mother.
    The mothers have anywhere from 1 to 7 babies each year. There were no
more babies and she could not find the mother, to remove it. Karen was
certain the mother was still feeding the babies even though Lester thinks he
has found the entrance she was using and repaired the hole.
    We are very lucky to have Karen and I am hoping everyone who reads this
article will help her out with donations which are what keeps her going. She
needs money for more slabs and cages and for food and medicine. She has also
informed us she needs towels and blankets for the care if there little guys.
She has also requested stuffed toys.. yes, stuffed animals.
    The baby raccoons love to play and snuggle with the toys. Karen is also
asking for all sorts of baby toys, such as rattles or anything else that
babies love to play with, that may rattle and jingle.
    Lester was warned against sealing up any place he thinks the mother
raccoon may be getting in, for about a week as that mother will tear up
something on his house to get to her babies. She will give up in about a
week and move on and then he can seal it.
    We all love our wildlife here in the south but we must never feed them
nor consider them as pets...ever!
    If you have a raccoon problem you think Karen may be able to help with,
please give her a call at (904)829-9210 or for emergency calls she can be
reached by pager number (904) 283-0486.
    Please do not confuse her with animal control, she will not hunt for
animals and an emergency is not the fact that those animals are getting into
your trash cans folks.
    Also, please remember those donations as this great lady needs our help
as much as we need hers at times.
    P.S. I have named those babies, Ricky and Ruby (brother and sister) and
I have sent in my donation.