By GLENN GARNETT
They came in the middle of the night. A crash on the back deck alerted Bill and Donna Rest that they had unexpected company at their cottage on Georgian Bay.
Bill grabbed a flashlight and hurried to the living room. He laughs when he recalls the sight that evening last summer.
"There before my bleary eyes, illuminated in the harsh beam of my dive light and taking no notice of me, were five rampaging, fat, black masked baby bandits, scurrying on, over, atop and through everything on the deck," Bill recalls. "The crash had been our six canoe paddles, earlier neatly stacked against the chalet, which were now laying scattered all about."
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| Dawn and Dusk frolic in a Speaking of Wildlife display. Or is that Dusk and Dawn? |
The young raccoons took no notice of Bill as he illuminated their fun, which only came to an end when Mom arrived on the scene. Somehow, she managed to herd her brood down the stairs and across the driveway but only after having to return twice to round up a couple of rebellious stragglers who ran back along the top of the handrail above their harried mother.
"I felt privileged to witness such a happy brood, up close, at play and in their natural environment," Bill says.
Everybody’s got a raccoon story although some, usually involving family pets or strewn garbage, aren’t as pleasant as Bill’s reminiscence. But wherever there’s people - in both urban and rural environments - you’ll find raccoons.
There are seven species of raccoon around the world, five of them from tropical islands, one from the Yucatan in Mexico, plus the garden variety North American kind we’ve come to know and love. Native Americans, who prized the creature for its meat and fur, called them "aroughcun" which means "he scratches with his hands." Europeans, who came to appreciate the animal for its fur, too, gave it its present name. The scientific nomenclature for the common North American raccoon is Procyon lotor. Lotor is Latin for "washer," for the raccoon’s famed habit of appearing to clean its food. Scientists aren’t quite sure what this ritual means, and the raccoons aren’t talking about it.
Adult raccoons measure about two and a half to three feet in length, can weigh from 12 to 55 pounds and have a lifespan in the wild of about 10 years, although in captivity some can live up to 22 years. Females, smaller in size than males, give birth to up to seven young after a two-month gestation period.
Most raccoons are loners but they do assemble for food or shelter. Young ‘uns stay with their mothers through their first summer and into fall. Raccoons are omnivores - besides your leftovers, they can chow down on fruit, acorns, sweet corn, crayfish, crab, insects, frogs, fish, eggs as well as small mammals and birds.
The masked marvels were in the news last year when rabid raccoons were found in the Brockville area, with fears that pets and livestock could become infected. But Dale Gienow, of Speaking of Wildlife Inc., a Canadian conservation organization focussing on education programs, says it’s no cause for alarm here.
"Here in southern Ontario it has become a bit of a problem over the past two years as a new strain of the rabies virus has been coming up from the United States - this year we’ve have five cases of raccoon rabies in southern Ontario," Gienow says. "People are concerned in that we have an estimated 600,000 raccoons in the Greater Toronto Area - a rabies outbreak could reach epidemic proportions if it happened - but so far it’s been kept under control.
"It’s not a problem but all the same we never encourage people to hand-feed raccoons, just in case."
Contact with raccoons isn’t uncommon even in large cities like Toronto - we often spotted them running around our parking garage in midtown and I’ve seen them clinging to the sides of garbage containers, peeking inside for goodies, in broad daylight.
Raccoons are bold and, not surprisingly, quite bright, says Gienow.
"Two years ago, scientists wanted to find out where raccoons went at night in Toronto - a number of them were radio-collared and what they found was very interesting," he recalls. ‘Raccoons will migrate from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, depending on your garbage pickup day. They knew exactly where to congregate - they’re very smart and they quickly pick up on our behaviour and habits."
But in spite of this native intelligence and seeming comfort with human contact, wildlife experts discourage the idea of becoming too chummy with them.
"Beyond the fear of rabies, there’s the concern with turning them into problem animals," Gienow points out. "Inevitably they get trapped or shot, so you’re not doing them any favours."
In Ontario, the new Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act implemented last year stipulates that private citizens are no longer allowed to keep any native wildlife animal. Licensed organizations such as Speaking of Wildlife, which uses their small menagerie for educational purposes, and registered zoos, are the exception to the rule.
But even before the act and its precedents were in effect, attempting to domesticate raccoons was a bad idea.
When I growing up in Kingston, Ont., the luckiest kid in our neighbourhood was my buddy Neil. His dad, a lineman for Ontario Hydro, one day discovered an orphaned raccoon while clearing some brush on the job and brought the critter home for his son. For a few months, "Bandit" was an adorable pet and was quite playful. But as he got older, he got more ornery, to the point of chasing you around the yard, growling fiercely, and nipping at you when he got the chance. Eventually Neil’s dad gave "Bandit" to a small zoo.
"When they’re young and they’re dependent, they view you like Mum, they like to be coddled and held," Gienow says. "But as they get older and less dependent, they do become aggressive and more difficult to control."
So, admire from afar, and if you want to discourage regular visits, keep your garbage well sealed - especially from this talented break-in artist . Raccoons get into all kinds of mischief - they can learn to open cans, latches, and turn on faucets in their quest for food…and fun.
"Make sure you have a really effective latch to seal the entry to your garbage because they have nimble fingers to open simple latches," Gienow says. "Also, ensure your chimney is covered with some sort of grate and board up any access to your house because once they get in, they can be very difficult to get out."
Later last summer, and back in their home in Mississauga, Ont., Donna and Bill were again awakened by a commotion in the middle of the night. Training his well-used flashlight into his backyard, Bill was delighted to find two raccoons rough-housing.
"They were chasing, tumbling, leaping upon one another and trilling - a sound I never knew that they could or did make," he says.
"They’re delightful creatures and they eat all of the evil grubs that infest our lawn, saving the environment from pesticides, and giving my lawn that golf course look - with all the divot-like holes!"
Established in 1989, Speaking of Wildlife specializes in the interactive approach to wildlife education, toting creatures such as owls, bobcats and porcupines to schools, museums, provincial parks and other forums to dramatize the need for conservation. Many of the animals housed at the organization’s headquarters in Orillia are abandoned pets - which is part of the reason why they discourage the keeping of exotic animals as pets.
For more information about their services, call 705-684-WILD (9453) or e-mail wildlife@encode.com
