Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Sharon Bryant

July 26, 2006

Raccoons Make Great Pets

Sharon Bryant

1946@bellsouth.net

I sure can relate to Clara's story about her raccoon.  I raised one for three years in my home.  Her name was Rascal.

We found her in the woods one day when she was just a tiny thing.  The mother had been killed.  From eye drooper to baby bottle to training cup, she learned.

When my son was in his high chair, I bought Rascal a doll highchair.  Side by side, those two had their lunch together.  Rascal had to have a bowl of water on her tray as she "washed" everything before she ate it.  She loved green grapes, bananas, veggies, and sweets.  She also ate with a child's spoon and fork.

She and my son took their bath together.  Coons love water.  I'd pull the plug in the bathtub and Rascal would stand on her hind legs and "Chirp" I called it, at me.  She would grab the plug and try and get it back in the bathtub.  I would sit there and watch her and laugh my head off.  After I'd dry my son off, Rascal would stand on her hind feet waiting to get dried.

I did have to "tie her up" at night in the house eventually.  Coons love to prowl at night.  Rascal was doing great until one night at 2:00 A.M., I heard glass breaking all over my kitchen.  I ran to the kitchen, turned on the light and Rascal was on my counter, pulling my dishes out of the cupboard sailing them across the room.  After that, she had to be tied up, which was a short chain I had to use to keep her away from items I didn't want broken.  She slept with a stuffed animal every night and would put her little paws around it.  It was so cute to see her sleeping holding onto her teddy bear.

She and my dog, Kernel got along fine.  She loved to jump on his back and he'd try to shake her off, but she hung on for dear life.  The two raced through the house.  I used to laugh because Kernel reminded me of a race horse and Rascal, the jockey.

I still remember the stares I got when I'd pull up to a McDonald's drive-thru window and order two happy meals, one for my son, one for Rascal.  Rascal always rode in my lap in the car, so the clerks at the windows always saw her.

I remember the time I was pulling a trailer and had to go over the scales.  They pulled me over and told me I could NOT have a coon for a pet.  I informed them she was ALWAYS a pet and she had been raised by humans and didn't know she WAS a coon.  Rascal sensed that this man was not happy with her, so she stood on her hind feet and began chirping at him in her loudest voice.

He told me it was a $500 fine for keeping a wild animal.  I told him she was not a wild animal.  But a little kid in a fur coat with a mask on.  I told him, "Just think of her as the Lone Ranger."  (That didn't go over too well with him.)

Someone turned me in one day for having her, and here came the conservation officer.  Telling me I HAD to let her go in the wild.  I told him I was NOT going to turn her in the wild because she'd never survive.  She grew up with two adults, a child and a dog, and she acted like a dog, not any wild animal.  I had to get a lawyer, but I got to keep Rascal at the tune of $600 for court costs.

Raccoons make adorable pets.  They will make you laugh until your belly hurts.  Rascal got her rabies shot every year along with Kernel.  She was litter boxed trained when in the house.  She grew up with many geese and birds.  She was adorable.  As long as I live, I will never forget the three years she was in my life.  Nor the laughter she gave me during those three years.

So Clara, I totally understand how you feel.

Sharon Bryant