We have a little coony crisis.

A couple officers found a baby raccoon that allegedly fell off a two story roof. So, they brought him to my mom and I and now we have a little coony to take care of. If my username doesn't give it away, raccoons are one of my favorite animals. :)

He has a brain injury and the vet gave him a shot of steroids to help reduce the swelling. He's also on antibiotics and I'm giving him water every hour or so, along with kitten milk. He was bleeding from his right ear when we first got him and he's still really lethargic. But he purrs when I rub his tummy and he can swallow. He can move everything, too, so we know his spine is intact. The steroids should kick in soon, but it's touch and go for a while. If he doesn't respond within 24 hours, he's probably not going to. We're keeping our fingers crossed. Poor little guy.

This incident has brought to light another issue, however. We were calling a bunch of wildlife rehabilitators and none of them had any room for our little guy. One rescue has about a hundred raccoons that are due to be released right now. But there's a lot of opposition. People just want them all to be killed because "they're pests that get in the way".

What a horrible attitude. It's the same with just about any native wildlife around here. Rabbits, foxes, coyotes, you name it. People want them gone. It's disgusting. Take one look at that sweet little face and tell me how anyone can go out and shoot them. People with that mentality are nothing but soulless monsters. If you're not intelligent and caring enough to at least try to get along with the local critters, you have no business taking up space and oxygen. The critters were here long before people were and they have just as much - if not more - right to be here as we do.

Tell me, what makes an animal unworthy of being saved? What makes you so much more important? If you see an animal that needs help, what would possibly possess you to just walk away? That's just unthinkable. What if you were in the situation of our poor raccoon, and you had taken a bad fall and were seriously hurt? I bet it would be pretty horrible if everyone just said to do away with you because you were "in the way", or nobody cared. You know what? If you're ever in a situation like that, don't ever expect help from me if you have that view. Maybe I'll just shoot you and put you out of your misery, because you seem to think that's the right thing to do for a living being that's hurt.

I think it's our obligation to make room for these animals because we take so much from them and give little to nothing back. These morons think raccoons and rabbits are so overpopulated? Ha. Have they taken a look around recently? Look how overpopulated humans are. We crawl out the of woodwork like cockroaches, therefor we're taking land and resources that the animals need. It's our own fault that the wildlife has nowhere else to go, so it's our job to take care of them. Would it kill people to at least try to get along with the animals? It's not hard.

I measure intelligence by an individual's ability to adapt and live alongside other species, and by that criteria, raccoons and other critters are a lot more intelligent than most humans. It's disgusting how people in this area just want to do away with them. Those kinds of people can all get rabies and die. They do nothing but suck oxygen and have no heart or conscience. Society would be vastly improved without them.

As for right now, I'm really hoping the little coony pulls through. There's a perfect, safe place near my house to release him if he makes it. *keeps fingers crossed*