Originally Posted by Spitpatch
My Raccoon I had for just over 2 years (she weighed 32 lbs at that point)!
I found her on the property after a huge springtime windstorm, and the old hollow maple she was born in was flattened. Baby coons on the ground. A buddy took one, I raised two, and sold one, keeping Rosemary Cooney. (Older guys might get a kick out of the name).
After two years, word got out, and I feared the Game Commision would come knocking on my door any minute. Illegal here to keep a wild animal without a permit. My veterinarian was supportive through the whole process, and kept my secret. Also, she ripped the hell out of a German Shepherd/Wolf that a neighbor had that got off his chain, and came into my yard. Even though he was already deemed a "Dangerous Dog" (from previously attacking kids), the owner threatened to turn me in. I paid his vet bills for his "tough killer dog", to keep him quiet, but I knew it was time for Cooney to make it on her own.
She'd always been allowed to come and go as she pleased from the house (we lived in a semi-rural area), and she'd sometimes disappear for a week or so, and then come back and be sleeping on the porch. Numerous trips in the field with me and on the property taught her how to catch frogs, crawdads and mice and eat blackberries and such, and so she had all the skills she needed to get by.
When the time came, I drove her out about 30 miles from the house to an area with multiple creeks and ponds and near a State Campground, and turned her loose leaving a 10lb bag of her favorite dog food under a log which she promptly began munching and I'd never cried so hard in my life walking back down the hill to the truck. I had fallen in love.
I'd read all the books I could find, and all said that raccoons are one of the few wild animals that when raised in captivity can make the change to the wild, but that didn't quell my misgivings about the whole deal, even though I knew she knew how to feed herself.
Six months later, my brother chose that campground for his base camp for elk hunting. Cooney came in to his campfire with a "troop" of 4 other coons (her babies?) and bummed, (none the worse for wear in her new surroundings). She sat in his lap (the other coons kept their distance), and then made the rounds to the other campsites. She showed up every evening at his camp for the 4 days he was there. We knew then she had made it.
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