| The Amazine Raccoon Rescue |
|
The amazing rescue of a little raccoon and her brother. They were rescued by the home owner when he had an old barn on his property bulldozed, not knowing that a mother raccoon had made a nest and given birth in the barn since he had originally contracted the work to be done. The home owner was heart broken and desperately wanted to save the little raccoons.
The little female came in with a broken and degloved right rear leg. The male had no broken bones but his left arm had a huge cut which went from his shoulder down the arm.
The home owner transported them right away to another rehabilitator, Debbie, who was close by. I was contacted and we made arrangements to meet in Annapolis in two days. The wounds were cleaned and topical medications applied.
The two days went by and after pucking up the baby raccoons, I stopped at the Orphaned Wildlife Rescue Center were the veterinary interns stitched the little male's arm while I phoned Dr. Adam Terry of All Kinds Veterinary Hospital in Callaway, Maryland who agreed to see the little female right away.
Dr. Terry decided to perform surgery to place a metal pin in the female raccoons leg to stabilize the bone. She was prepped and the surgery began. Once the pin was placed, the veterinary technician took a digital x-ray to make certain the pin was properly placed. Dr. Terry checked the digital x-ray, then cut the excess length from the pin. He then performed a laser treatment to speed the healing of the degloved area, wrapped the leg and stayed with the little one until she was awake. She looked like a pirate with a peg leg, hence the name "Peggy".
We had to remove the wraps and retreat the degloved area every 2-3 days to ensure that it was not developing an infection. Unfortunately Peggy's pin shifted out of place on the sixth day after surgery and was removed Despite the setback, Peggy has made an amazing recovery and has graduated to an 8'x16' cage in the barn which goes all the way to the rafters.
As you can see in the photos, she climbs like a pro and will be released back to the wild next spring along with her cage mates. She is quite a character and although we will miss her when she's gone, we're very proud of her progress and are thrilled that she will live wild and free as nature intended.
|
|
