(See photo below)
Ř 34 raccoons
Ř 5 skunks
Ř 1 fox
(Note: 4 skunks and the fox were seized from an OCWC foster family’s home)
To the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources these animals are simply numbers and disposable ones at that. To the members of the public who rescued the animals and whose families called daily to see how they were doing along with the student interns and volunteers who devoted a tremendous amount of time and effort to give these young animals a second chance, each of them were special.
Raccoon – Male – Received at 9 weeks of age - Survived a fall from the
roof of the Civic Centre and, with a great deal of care,
fully recovered from serious head injuries
Raccoon – Male – Received at 10 weeks of age – Rescued from a vat of
grease behind a restaurant on Elgin Street by a waitress
who observed this young orphan for almost a week
trying unsuccessfully to survive on his own
Raccoon – Female –Received as a very tiny 2.5 week old – Accidentally
smoked out of a chimney in Nepean where she fell into
the fireplace hearth, covered in soot and suffering from
smoke inhalation – had great difficulty in breathing
Fox – Female - Found on the property of a volunteer in Lanark who
raised and bottle fed the tiny 5 week old fox. It should
never have been taken as it came from that property and
would have been ready for release there a month or so
after it was seized. It was a purely punitive action on the
part of MNR that has meant, instead of being released
last September, the young fox has been held in a
research facility for almost 8 months and has likely
become habituated
