I can use one word to best describe this week: raccoons! We have gotten in a bunch (and by that I mean two) adult raccoons this week. Since I have a lot of experience working with them, I've become the de facto Raccoon Wrangler. Not my favorite thing, since adult raccoons are something I would describe as heckin' dangerous. Here's a few highlights of the week:
On Sunday I answered a call to the wildlife rehabilitation center about a baby raccoon walking around a neighborhood with its front paws stuck in a trap. Since the finder wasn't able to safely catch it, myself and another intern went to capture the raccoon on-site. Luckily for us, the homeowner was able to catch the raccoon in a dumpster after she walked in. I found that this "baby" raccoon was in fact a full grown adult female who was full of fight despite being caught in a trap. She was able to bruise my finger while biting through two towels and the special super-thick bite-proof gloves. After we took her back to the clinic, we were able to anesthetize the raccoon and remove her paws from the trap. Her front feet were both badly mangled, but we were hopeful for recovery. Her front paws were healing well until she started chewing her bandages off and further damaging her feet severely. Sadly she had to be euthanized yesterday due to the severity of the paw damage. The trap she was caught it was specifically made for raccoons and it was baited with a marshmallow. This raccoon was a nursing mother just trying to look out for her kits. A very avoidable tragedy.
Another "fun" raccoon thing that happened was when a woman brought us a mother raccoon that had been having seizures in her yard for the last few days. When the raccoon arrived, all of us were dismayed to find out that she was absolutely COVERED in maggots. Super duper nasty. We anesthetized her and I got to have the amazing job of maggot removal. We did the best we could, but sadly she passed away today due to kidney failure. It's likely she got into poison at some point and that was what killed her. Washingtonians don't seem to be huge fans of raccoons. They don't even get rabies here, which is the biggest issue with them on the east coast.
On to more fun things, myself and the other interns got to name a bunch of the kittens! Some of the older kittens we have that were born to feral moms are finally getting big enough to get ready for adoption. Everyone got a chance to name a kitten, but the shelter director got a final say on names. Here's the final list of names: Bean, Jupiter, Tuna, Ivory, Flynn (the one I named), and one more that I just can't remember for the life of me. They're all growing up so fast! I'll be both sad and happy to see them go.
All the interns are also working on a big trifold display with the names and pictures of the shelter cats on it. We're planning to take the trifold to the town fairs that Puget Sound WildCare is going to to advertise the cats. I've been assigned to take pictures of the three very feral mom cats. Not sure how I'm going to get a cute picture of any of them.
Some non-work stuff:
I had a milkshake for dinner on Wednesday. Not super notable, but it was just that kind of day, y'know?
On Thursday I went back to Snoquera falls, which had a little bit less water but was still extremely beautiful. I really like it there.
I'm thinking about going to Mount Rainier next week, since the weather will be in the 90's. Although it will be right after the 4th of July, so it might be really busy. I also got a recommendation to go to Mount Saint Helens. It's around 3.5 hours from here, but it does sound super cool. I also need to go to Olympic National Park before I leave town. Decisions, decisions...
To my family, love all of you so much and miss you. Can't wait to see you all soon :)
To quote a silly Avicii song:
If there's love in this life, we're unstoppable,
No we can't be defeated.
Monday left me broken,
Tuesday I was through with hoping,
Wednesday my empty arms were open,
Thursday waiting for love, waiting for love,
Thank the stars it's Friday,
I'm burning like a fire gone wild on Saturday,
Guess I won't be coming to church on Sunday,
I'll be waiting for love, waiting for love,
To come around.
So glad your mom shared this link with me. Really love hearing about your adventures! Keep up the good work, Emma. Sounds like we will be traveling with you and your family for a weekend in October. Can’t wait!
That's another exciting week, Emma. It's really interesting to hear about the variety of tasks you are doing and things you are learning in this experience. Love the photos!