Elleda Wilson: Little bandits
Aug. 18—"All the raccoons in our care have moved on to the next level of care," Peninsula Wild Care in Ocean Park, Washington, posted Aug. 6 on their Facebook page. "We do not have the outdoor enclosures that raccoons need for proper conditioning for release ... yet!
"In the past few weeks, they have gone from sweet little babies to rambunctious, crazy, ornery raccoons. This is the first group of raccoons we have been able to raise, as we recently obtained our permit for them.
"We started off feeding them formula five times a day, for the first couple weeks, then the number of feedings slowly go down. At about five weeks, you start offering a juvenile diet, while still supplementing with formula. Their diet consists of kibble, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, yogurt, eggs, fish and fresh trout, if they are lucky like ours were (thanks Emily!). Then they receive medications for deworming weekly, and were vaccinated, including boosters."
Want to help them with their good work helping local wildlife? You can offer to volunteer or donate at peninsulawildcare.org
"We enjoyed caring for these little bandits," the post concluded. " ... Hopefully, next year we will be able to provide the necessary outdoor enclosure to see them to release."
