Baby Raccoons Search For Mother

Yes, get prepared. I've got one more serious animal adventure on my mind......

Approximately four years ago I was driving down our long, mostly lonesome and still wild, beach road when I came across a family of raccoons. There were three young coons, probably only a few months old and one mother. The problem was, they were all dead on the highway, lying in a tidy little group as if they'd committed suicide together. I knew this wasn't what happened because I know raccoons. The family sticks together, much like fifty percent of human families do. Mother coons are terrific in their mothering skills and faithfulness to their children. They're fierce fighters and will protect their children against a bobcat.

I could only imagine the scene in my mind......baby coon isn't listening to mom and runs out into the road in front of the car. Mom runs out to grab the little shit. Mother and baby get killed. The other two babies wanting to find their family, go out into the road to check on them. They won't leave their mother, even if she's dead. They're too young and the family who rips open peoples trash cans together, stays together. It's only natural everyone in the brood was killed. It was a scene that will stick with me forever.

Today my hubby is driving down the same road and in about the same place mother coon is dead on the side of the road and unfortunately, the buzzards have already arrived. There are three young babies running in their little group back and forth across the road, looking scared and lost. There's nothing they can do but run around by their mother. My hubby is as sick minded and just as much an animal lover as me...his mind figured out the scenario just like I would have.

I could only imagine their horror, one probably screwed up and wasn't watching the road and mom got killed trying to protect him. Now they're young and alone and mom's dead on the side of the road. Then it must be horrible seeing the garbage crew come in and start digesting mom before your eyes and you're too young to totally understand enemies and how nature works. And you damn well don't realize these weird metal objects going down the road will run your ass over.

Which once again brings me back to people who don't believe animals have souls, feelings, reasoning abilities or feelings of loyalty and love. When scenes like this are being witnessed by people every day, scenes of animals showing true devotion and the ability to reason a situation out. As far as I'm concerned, they have the same feelings toward their children as most of us do and they grieve when a love one is hurt or injured. Heck, the other day a girlfriend of mine actually fed a wild gopher tortoise some lettuce, that just came wandering by. The damn thing ate right from her hands several mouthfulls and then took off back on his trek to god only knows where. He actually noticed a truck coming down the road and tried to get out of its way. I was always told they were "stupid" animals. The tortoise didn't seem too stupid to me.

If we could talk to the animals I wonder if they'd even give us the time of day.....we damn well wouldn't want to hear what most of them would have to say to us.