Saturday 4 October 2008

American WIldlife


Just as I was about to take Bambi to bed, the phone rang. Our neighbours had been having raccoon trouble and had managed to trap the little critter in their garage.  Would we like to come over for a quick look and help release it?  Oh yes!  Off we went with Bambi yodeling the theme tune to Go Diego Go.

And a cutie it was too. Clearly having a bad day though, tucked into the corner of its cage. And then its day got worse. Out of absolutely nowhere, a storm was brewing and as we drove our little bandit to its new home the lightening struck. Close. Very close. And the thunder rolled. Loudly. Very loudly.

Oh, and the heavens opened.

Unsurprisingly, one very wet raccoon decided to forgo all pleasantries and bolted for the bushes the second of its release. Fair enough.

And then I realised where we were - in a park some 500m from Bambi's school. The suburbs of northern Virginia are peppered with parks and it struck me that there must be quite a raccoon rotation going on with masked crusaders being passed around from neighbourhood to neighbourhood as they get caught raiding and released to discover menus anew somewhere else.

So that was my first real brush with American wildlife. Although did you know that you get black squirrels in this part of the world?!

And I'm still pregnant by the way...

13 comments:

Iota said...

Wow, it's like being on safari.

The Good Woman said...

Yes Iota. And no...

Unknown said...

It's a pitty that its becoming less common to see such wildlife around our homes.

Vist my blog on African Safari Stories. www.safari-stories.blogspot.com and www.southafrican-wildlife.blogspot.com

Kim said...

We are out from the nearest city a bit, and have all manner of wildlife. Squirrels, rabbits, moles, lots of little toads, turtles, and so on. Before we fenced our backyard, I woke at about 1am and looked out the back door right into the eyes of a young whitetail deer. Quite amazing.

The kids love it. We feed the squirrels and the birds, especially the hummingbirds and I keep all manner of plants to attract butterflies. My back yard is a bit like the wild kingdom.

When I saw this post on bloglines, I was thinking it might be baby news! Hope you're doing well.

Expat mum said...

Just keep the lids on yer bins. They play havoc with your rubbish and it'll be strewn all over the place!

Misssy M said...

We just bought a dog flap the other day- on of those electronic tag ones to stop stray cats from getting in. On the front of the box it has a symbol with a raccoon with a cross through it.

My kids got all excited at he prospect of a raccoon. As if it was some kind of bizarre free gift enclosed.

Shame, we don't exactly have much wildlife to get excited about- unless you count the panther that my mother in law claims she saw in the back field....

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The Good Woman said...

HI David - Although I have seen a good few honey badgers and marauding genets in your part of the world.

Hi Kaycie - we also have hummingbirds! I hung a feeder right outside our kitchen window and they were regular visitors over breakfast.

Yes, expat mum. That's what the neighbours were trying to overcome.

The Good Woman said...

Hey Misssy - I can't believe that you never have ANY wild things through your door...

Mozi Esme said...

I like the connection between racoons & being pregnant!

Roberta said...

I want to welcome you to the US and we are (almost) neighbors! I live in West Virginia, south of you.

Careful of the raccoons. They carry rabies. (Most often born with the disease). I think I have probably in the years I have lived here help raise 8 litters of them. I even had the wonderful opportunity to help feed and watch an albino raccoon for several years. If you want to have some fun, feed them raw eggs. They love them!

I plan to come back and read. Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Hadriana's Treasures said...

Good luck with No.2. Your world will be turned upside down when it comes but in a very good way :-) Hx

Sparx said...

Ah, racoons, all very cute until you catch one in your kitchen going through your bin. The big ones are the size of a medium dog... Ah, black squirrels! I'd forgotten about them.