Two nights ago I was sitting at my computer, typing up a response to some other post here, when I heard a horrible commotion from outside. It was an animal screeching, at first I was thinking it was some sort of bird. But the more I listened the more it started to sound like a mammal. Understand that my computer room is in the basement. I left my room, thinking of heading outside to check out the commotion, when I realized what was going on. Another critter had fallen into one of the basement window wells. This actually doesn't happen that often, the last time that I can remember was an opossum, and that was a long time ago. I pointed a flashlight on it and realized it was a raccoon. Not just a raccoon, but a baby raccoon. WOW it was cute! I've never experienced cuteness like this before. It was crying piteously, alternating between screaming and making the more usual raccoon chattering noises, while it scraped at the glass window and wire mesh screen trying to get out. I'm a big time animal lover, believe me it's cries of distress tugged at my heart. But I'm also a wanna be animal photographer. I couldn't pass this up. First I took a bunch of pictures of it and got some video footage (for the sounds it was making as much as anything), THEN I set about putting boards into the well to let it try to crawl out. I didn't delay more than maybe five minutes, it didn't suffer much longer for my photographic pursuits. Most of my shots were from inside and weren't very good, as you'd imagine when I'm shining a light at dirty glass and trying to photograph what's on the other side. But I got some from outside looking in to the well, those were better. Unfortunately they mostly look the same, and are from an awkward angle. The little guy had a lot of trouble getting out, he didn't seem to have the dexterity I expect of raccoons, I think he was too young. He couldn't grab the side of the board for traction, he just tried to scrap his way up it with his claws. But he eventually worked his way out, and I couldn't help but stick around and observe him (again I assume male gender for no reason, for simplicity of description) for a while. He walked around with the "still getting used to my legs" gait that very young kittens have. This was not a newborn, but I'm guessing it was his first trip outside of the very confined den in the attic (which, to recap, the mother raccoon has made despite our best attempts to stop it, this has been my first confirmation that there are babies up there though, they're usually completely silent) and he must not have had much experience walking before this. He also demonstrated the almost total lack of fear that a kitten displays. He was clearly distressed, but I don't think it was because of my presence. Perhaps my light hurt his eyes, but otherwise his primary concern was that he was stuck on the ground, far from his home. His siblings were also concerned, I kept seeing these little raccoon heads poking out from the attic to see what was going on, and they were talking back and forth to each other in raccoon speak. It was like the epicenter of tragic cuteness. The grounded one first wandered around to our front door, strangely enough, and paced back and forth as if he was a domesticated animal who wanted to get in. Eventually he made his way back to the ground beneath the attic, where I think he had initially fallen straight down from what essentially would be the third floor (above the roof of the second floor) to the ground and yet appeared to be uninjured. He was talking to his siblings, he clearly knew where home was and wanted to get back. I left him there, not wanting to risk keeping the mother away if she should come back. But I could still hear him from my computer room, which was very close to where he proceeded to scrap against the side of the house in a futile attempt to climb up and screamed. It was heartbreaking, this little guy just wanted to go home. There was really nothing I could do there, our tallest ladder would still not quite reach, and I'd have had to hand hold him to lift him up. I know there's concerns of rabies in raccoons, plus I really didn't want to humanize him. So I had to just sit here and listen to him crying out and scraping against the house. I listened to music while wearing earphones to try to not pay attention to it, but I could still hear it. And then it was silent. I couldn't help myself, I went out to check up on the situation. Nothing. No baby raccoon, no sounds from the attic, no heads peaking out, nothing. There's two options. Either a carnivore got him and carried him away, or else momma came back and took him back up to the den. With the noise he was making I wouldn't be surprised if she heard him and came back before her usual return time. I'm sorry the only decent pictures I got were from this weird perspective. This baby was unbelievably cute, it was like all the cuteness of a raccoon but put into a sort of teddy bear proportioned body. I'm adding one low quality picture, from when he was walking in front of the front door, to show his body proportions. One other comment, notice the blue eyes in the other pictures. That's the first time I've seen it. It's not technically the same thing as red eye, this is eye shine, which occurs in animals with a . I didn't know that eye shine comes in different colors, but apparently it does. [This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]
