This is sad, but at least with a happy ending. Full article here.
Ashley Bennett is used to seeing raccoons in her Maple Ridge, B.C., yard.
However, a recent incident has left her shaken.
Bennett moved into the home with her family in 2020 and found the raccoons when they dismantled a deck.
She said they have co-existed since then, with a rule for every family member not to touch or feed the animals.
They’ll actually sit on the tree and the dogs will be in the backyard...
Bennett had just returned from the school run last week when she found the mom and a baby raccoon unconscious, with one of the babies sleeping on the furniture.
She came outside and said the little raccoon didn’t stir at all.
“Its ears didn’t flutter, not anything, which is beyond uncommon,” Bennett said.
“So I sort of tiptoed up to it and nothing. And I began sort of poking it and scratching it on the head a little bit and it was completely silent.”
She called Dr. Adrian Walton at the Dewdney Animal Hospital... He said she could bring the raccoon in...
Walton said when the baby arrived at the clinic it was comatose.
“It was super cold. His heart rate was super low. Its pupils were dilated..."
Walton said he didn’t know what had happened to the raccoon but he was quickly able to rule out poison and other toxins due to the animal’s lack of symptoms.
“So one of the things we started thinking of was fentanyl...
“We decided to do a reversing agent, a.k.a. the veterinary version of Narcan.”
Walton said that created a reaction he was not expecting.
“The next thing we know, we have this raccoon rampaging around the clinic and all of us are trying to herd it into an exam room so that we could actually get it confined,” ..
“By the time we got back to the exam room, it had basically knocked down every glass container we had and was trying to climb up our computer screen into this little nook that is in our exam rooms,” Walton said...
Donning protective gear, the staff were able to catch the little guy and start to put it into the cage...
“At which point it walked right in, turned around, grabbed the door by his hand and shut it,” Walton said.
“It’s like, ‘I’ve had enough of this’...”
Bennett said the baby continued to sleep in her backyard for about 48 hours after she brought it home.
“I’m blown away that it is this close to home out where we are,” she said. “I never thought so. My kids walk to school...”
She said all the raccoons have been back since and are accounted for and she hopes there are no further incidents.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfQBSvoA_Vo[/ame]
Ashley Bennett is used to seeing raccoons in her Maple Ridge, B.C., yard.
However, a recent incident has left her shaken.
Bennett moved into the home with her family in 2020 and found the raccoons when they dismantled a deck.
She said they have co-existed since then, with a rule for every family member not to touch or feed the animals.
They’ll actually sit on the tree and the dogs will be in the backyard...
Bennett had just returned from the school run last week when she found the mom and a baby raccoon unconscious, with one of the babies sleeping on the furniture.
She came outside and said the little raccoon didn’t stir at all.
“Its ears didn’t flutter, not anything, which is beyond uncommon,” Bennett said.
“So I sort of tiptoed up to it and nothing. And I began sort of poking it and scratching it on the head a little bit and it was completely silent.”
She called Dr. Adrian Walton at the Dewdney Animal Hospital... He said she could bring the raccoon in...
Walton said when the baby arrived at the clinic it was comatose.
“It was super cold. His heart rate was super low. Its pupils were dilated..."
Walton said he didn’t know what had happened to the raccoon but he was quickly able to rule out poison and other toxins due to the animal’s lack of symptoms.
“So one of the things we started thinking of was fentanyl...
“We decided to do a reversing agent, a.k.a. the veterinary version of Narcan.”
Walton said that created a reaction he was not expecting.
“The next thing we know, we have this raccoon rampaging around the clinic and all of us are trying to herd it into an exam room so that we could actually get it confined,” ..
“By the time we got back to the exam room, it had basically knocked down every glass container we had and was trying to climb up our computer screen into this little nook that is in our exam rooms,” Walton said...
Donning protective gear, the staff were able to catch the little guy and start to put it into the cage...
“At which point it walked right in, turned around, grabbed the door by his hand and shut it,” Walton said.
“It’s like, ‘I’ve had enough of this’...”
Bennett said the baby continued to sleep in her backyard for about 48 hours after she brought it home.
“I’m blown away that it is this close to home out where we are,” she said. “I never thought so. My kids walk to school...”
She said all the raccoons have been back since and are accounted for and she hopes there are no further incidents.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfQBSvoA_Vo[/ame]
!!
