This Woman Rescued A Wild Animal From Her Yard, And It Started Behaving In The Strangest Way
It’s late 2014, and what begins as a normal day will become anything but for Rosie Kemp. A bizarre creature has fallen out of a tree in her backyard in the Bahamian capital of Nassau. So, she moves closer to get a better look. It’s a young animal, which is obviously hurt and in need. With no sign of its mom, Kemp picks it up and takes the creature inside. At first, her two dogs are curious about the creature. But then it shows signs of some incredibly bizarre behavior!
There are risks involved in handling this particular animal, though. For one, they are renowned for having sharp teeth and scratchy claws. The creatures also don’t cope well being cooped up indoors. After all, wild animals are called that for a reason! Though the one Kemp found in her back yard had a broken leg, and she wasn’t about to turn her back on it.
The animal was merely weeks old and, as we mentioned earlier, it had fallen from a tree. Kemp apparently waited for the critter’s mother to arrive, but she never showed up. And the creature clearly needed help. Yet there was another obstacle, too.
How would it respond to the family’s dogs? The animal is known to display some canine-esque behaviors, though it was still wild so no one knew how they would get along. But since no local rescue centers would take the cub, Kemp took it in herself. Before long, the creature then started behaving in some very unexpected ways.
What fell out of the tree was a raccoon. And with the little cub in trouble and no sign of its mother, Kemp knew she needed to step in. The creature had a broken leg and according to The Dodo website, it was only a month old. Clearly, there was no way the creature would have survived on its own. Kemp, then, decided to bring the animal into her home.
Keeping raccoons as pets is actually legal in the Bahamas. So, Kemp and her daughter Laura Young decided to raise the cub by hand for it to stand the best chance of survival. They treated the baby raccoon just as its mother was likely to.
Kemp and her daughter went on to name the cub Pumpkin. According to The Dodo, they would keep it warm and make time for regular feedings whether it was day or night. Laura Young told the website in 2015, “Raising her was – and still is – a full-time job.” But before long the raccoon started behaving in a way that shocked its adoptive parents.
According to The Spruce Pets website, many animal experts would advise against keeping raccoons as pets. The creatures might at first seem a lot like puppies or even ferrets, and like them they can often get into mischief. Nevertheless, racoons can still take a lot of effort to look after and their behavior can be quite unpredictable. In some countries, they can also carry rabies.
The Spruce Pets website explains, “Many [raccoons] will damage your home and belongings as part of their daily antics. They’re difficult to truly tame and are notorious biters when something bothers them.” What’s more, their diets and well-being differ from domestic pets. This was seemingly apparent across the pond in Nottinghamshire, England, when Mandy Marsh was woken up early one morning by what she described as a “blood curdling scream.”
“It was actually terrifying,” Marsh recalled to MailOnline in June 2019. “We were laid in bed at about 4:00 a.m. and I heard such a terrifying noise like I had never heard before. It was screaming. My husband went out and opened the door and the dog shot out. The dog was barking like mad and my husband went out after her.”
The couple then saw what they believed to be a raccoon attacking their pony and goat. Marsh said, “The raccoon was trying to kill [the goat]. This raccoon was absolutely crazy. It was hissing and screaming and snarling. It was going absolutely mad.” Marsh and her husband apparently tried to scare the critter off by brandishing planks of wood!
The standoff continued for around two hours, Marsh told MailOnline. She went on, “We’ve never seen anything like it in our lives. It was scary. We didn’t know what it was. It looked terrible.” As it turned out, her encounter had been with a raccoon dog, which is actually a member of the fox family and only bears its name because of its resemblance to raccoons.
Anyway, raccoon that Kemp and her daughter took in was a wild animal. These nocturnal creatures largely retain their natural characteristics no matter how domesticated they are, according to The Spruce Pets. And there were two dogs to consider – how would the little critter get along with them and vice versa? Ultimately, no one had a clue what to expect.
Kemp needn’t have worried, though: everyone got along famously! In fact, Pumpkin soon had her own Instagram account, and today she has more than a million fans following her exploits and mischievous escapades. It seems that the world couldn’t get enough of the cheeky raccoon.
“She instantly bonded with us and our two rescue dogs and follows me and our two dogs everywhere we go,” Kemp’s daughter Laura Young told The Dodo. “She now thinks she is a dog... she is able to play and be rough with them and she respects them when they have had enough.” What’s more, Pumpkin began showing a fondness for human comforts.
Young said that the critter had a fondness for air conditioning when the weather got too hot. Not only that: the raccoon also developed a taste for watermelon and eggs cooked sunny side up! Pumpkin was also potty trained and used the bathroom toilet when nature called. It’s thought that missing out on a wild upbringing set her up for learning domestic behaviors.
“[Racoons] are so unbelievably intelligent, very aware,” Young explained. “And I would say they are even able to express emotions.” The Spruce Pets website notes that it’s not unusual for the creatures to grow close to humans – particularly if the relationship started early in its life. Raccoons can even become incredibly affectionate with their adoptive parents.
But Pumpkin wasn’t shy when it came to expressing her independence, either. Young told The Dodo that on one occasion she, the dogs and the raccoon were all in a room together. Alas, the animal had other ideas and clambered onto a piece of furniture close to the door to turn the knob and let herself out!
It was understandable, then, that Young was devastated when Pumpkin passed away suddenly in October 2019. She declared in a heartfelt post on Instagram, “I am so completely ruined that I can barely see what I am typing as there are so many tears pouring down my face. Her passing came as a complete shock to us and we are still trying to come to terms with it.”
Young wrote, “Pumpkin changed my life, and not from her social media presence. This little raccoon literally fell into my life when I was going through a tough time. She gave me purpose and gave me confidence. She helped me get out of a dark hole on more than one occasion. She is going to be one missed raccoon. I love you my darling... We miss you so much.” RIP little Pumpkin.
Aucun commentaire: