story time

Last night I was watching wheel of fortune during a thunderstorm when my brain began to separate the mass of audible input into 1)television, 2) storm and 3)strange noises being emmitted NOT from the television. I followed my ears to my fireplace. Now, my fireplace is broken and is enclosed by two heavy orange glass-paned doors which not been opened for almost a year.

The noises began to escalate into freakish shrills, scrapping, and screaching. I KNEW that something was inside of my fireplace, not simply my chimney, but on the other side of those crusted doors through which I could not see. I called Jason, because the shrieking was weirding me out and I didn't want to face alone whatever was in there. I could've swore that a bat and a cat were fighting some epic battle to determine the fate of the animal universe.

When Jason arrived roughly 40 minutes later, the sounds had almost ceased. Almost. There was definite movement and slight, barely audible whinning. With gloves and courage, I slowely opened the door. At the first sight of a fuzzy body, I jumped up "It's a bat!" I moved hastily away from the small opening so Jason could peer in. "No, it's a raccoon!" With that, I returned to open the door further and discovered, not one, not two, but THREE baby raccons in my fireplace! They were SO cute and furry and didn't have their eyes open. It didn't take long for me to wonder if the mother had actually given birth to them in there the hour before. There is a tree branch hanging directly over my chimney, she could have fallen in, or purposefully climbed in (raccoons are great climbers) to escape the storm.

I faced a dilemma. It was after hours for animal control, I didn't want to put them back in the fireplace but I wanted them to live. My backyard has an opening to neighborhood dogs roaming around (I didn't want the cuties to end up as canine supper). Finally, Jason moved a heavily wooded door to block the opening barring the dogs and I left the babies in a box on my back porch, hoping that, come morning, the mother would have returned and taken them away.

And guess what! She did! The box was overturned in the morning and they were gone. Considering that they were too feable to move last night and considering that their dead carcasas were not laying anywhere near by, I feel confident that the mother returned and that they will survive.

Just another day in the raccoon rescueing life of sarah jo and jason.