Should I Keep Him

We would like to acknowledge that as licensed wildlife rehabilitators, our goal is to raise, care for, and release back into the wild, all Native Florida Wildlife that comes into our hands for care. However, at some time or another you will be faced with the knowledge that this animal cannot be released back into the wild, either due to a birth defect, severe head injury resulting in neurological problems or even causing the animal to be blind, or just because someone found an infant and decided “I want to keep him” as a pet and now that he is terrorizing the entire household, they don’t want him anymore and now he is so imprinted that he cannot be released into the wild. These are just some of the ways that you wind up with permanent animals.

We spent a lot of time having the animals evaluated by veterinarians and other long-time rehabilitators before making the decision on whether to keep him or not to keep him.

We personally want to let people know, that before you decide to keep a permanent animal that first of all, think about the animal and its dignity. If the animal’s back is injured or his legs, and he has to lay in his own fecal matter and his urine until someone can get there to clean him up or if he is blind and so scared that he beats himself up in the cage, then no matter how attached you are to him, we believe it is more humane to have him euthanized. In other words, if you love and care for him, you will let him go with dignity.

We also wanted to offer our questions and answers to rehabilitators, because not only are you faced with the decision as to “Can I Keep Him”, you are also faced with the lay-person that calls and says, “I have found a baby raccoon and I want to know how to feed him, because he is so cute and I want to keep him as a pet.”

Before decisions are made either by a rehabilitator or by a lay-person, you also need to ask yourself, “If I Keep Him, and he becomes sick, needs his shots, needs to be spayed or neutered, can I get a veterinarian to look at him.”

Most veterinarians won’t even look at a raccoon, much less treat them, even if you do have a permit.

The next thing that you have to ask yourself is, “What if I live in an area that is prone to natural disasters, like hurricanes, floods, and fires and I have to evacuate?” Most shelters won’t even let you bring domestic pets with you, much less a raccoon.

And lastly, what if you want to take a vacation. You will not be able to board him like you would a dog or cat. You need to remember also that even if you have a permit for him, he is still not considered a domestic animal and if he bites someone who is caring for him while you are gone, you will most likely have him taken away from you and tested for rabies. (This means he will be destroyed!)

So, once you have gone through all of the steps of “Can I Keep Him”, and you still decide that you want to keep him, then you must be prepared to do just that, keep him until he dies. Also, you must remember at that time you will have to contact Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or your state’s wildlife agency and ask for a permit to keep him as a pet.

Whether you are a licensed rehabilitator or you are a lay-person, you must still apply for a pet permit in order to keep any captive wild animal as a pet. You will also have to follow cage requirements required by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission or your state’s wildlife agency.

Training raccoons is an intensive and on-going process and many captive raccoons may retain destructive or aggressive natural behaviors, such as biting.

So, please ask yourself and others that want a raccoon for a pet to remember first: “Can I Keep Him?” and second: “Should I Keep Him?”