Raccoons attack Georgia baby in her crib

[Lyn1001]

I so hope the baby will be all right. The following in no way lessens the coon attack on the baby, or negates the parental responsibility (especially if they were keeping the coons as pets).

About 5 years ago, I had an amazing and scary encounter with a 'coon. I walked in my back door, bringing in a load of groceries. My cats usually meet me at the door, but not this time...they were lurking in the hallway, fur puffy and upset. I didn't think too much of it, but as I was moving the groceries in, a 'coon just walked into my back door and to the kitchen, and went straight to the food bowls. He was fairly large, but I don't have even a working knowledge of coons to know if he was big or normal sized (I don't even know if he's a 'he'...)

I screamed, grabbed a broom, and tried to 'sweep' the coon out. He didn't budge. I was hollering 'get out!' At the time, I had a protective neighbor...he heard this, came charging in my back door, and started hollering himself (by this time, the cats were nowhere to be found...). His girlfriend heard us yelling, and called the cops. My neighbor got scared, and hopped up onto the oven (thank God it was off...) and kept hollering. I kept swinging the broom and hollering. The coon kept eating the cat food.

The cops decided they needed to storm my house...four cops came in the open back door, saw my neighbor on the stove, and drew down on him. I dropped the broom, and hollered "NOT HIM! The (blankity blank blank) coon!!" Once the cops saw the coon, they left the house in a hurry...along with my neighbor. I refused to leave, because of my cats.

They called animal control on an emergency, and the fire department showed up. I put on a big pot of coffee...and shut the bedroom door (where all the cats were hanging out by now...).

Long story short, animal control got the coon, everyone had a cuppa coffee, and it's been the joke of the neighborhood ever since.

Some coons are just pretty darned unconcerned and aggressive - they want food, and boy, they'll get food. I was waiting for him to go open the fridge, you know? Even with cops, crazy ladies swinging brooms, and men hopping onto ovens. Darned thing just kept looking for food.

Then there's the story of the possum who wouldn't play possum...but that's for another day. And I live in a huge city...population in the millions.

Best-
Herding Cats

I'm sorry to be O/T from the thread, but that has got to be THE funniest wild animal story I have ever heard!

 

[Nova]

Me too Nova!

I didn't know you were a DUDE!

Sorry. Never meant to deceive. I don't really get that whole "pretend to be someone you're not" thing on the internet.

For what it's worth, most posters seem to assume I'm female until I say otherwise. I don't know if it's because the overwhelming majority of WS posters are women or because my hat has a feminine ending. (It's the name of my high school, BTW.)

But now you know I'm just a wimp when it comes to wild animals.

The funny thing is I grew up near the 'Glades and thought nothing of running with the snakes and gators. I guess the decades in NYC and LA changed me...

(ETA: now that I've read Herding Cats story, at least I've never climbed up on a major appliance. But I do know what she means about possums. We had those in LA and I learned the hard way that urban possums don't play dead for humans, they stand their ground and growl as if they were mountain lions.)

 

[kgeaux]

The news this morning said that the parents WERE keeping the raccoons as pets. One was found and tested negative for rabies. They brought in infrared scanners and a "professional coon hunter" but cannot find the 2nd raccoon so the poor baby will have to have the rabies treatment anyway.

She's in critical condition. I cannot even begin to type what I think of these stupid parents without being banned.

Unbelievable!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What a horrible lesson these parents are learning at their baby's expense.

I had a neighbor who kept racoons as pets. She'd found three orphaned babies after a hurricane and raised them indoors....they used a cat box, I think! They'd come over to our house some evenings to grab a snack, and we all enjoyed watching them wash their food and hands....so cute. Luckily nothing bad happened. Back then, I didn't even know it was risky. I HOPE these parents were naive, and not deliberately tempting fate.

I was bitten by a dog on Halloween and there is a chance I may have to do rabies shots. Animal control is currently trying to find the dog. In any case, what you said is exactly what she told me: the shots aren't as painful anymore and they are in the arm. She said they were expensive, but she didn't say how much. $3000????? Holy cow!!

Whoa. I hope you have insurance!

 

[Saffron]

I'm glad you learned your lesson without paying a high price.

But I hope you'll forgive me if I find your story rather sweet.

The raccoons I see out here in the desert aren't small and they aren't cute. The young ones (adolescents, I assume) are the size of pit bulls; the adults look more like St. Bernards. (No doubt these sizes are exaggerated in my mind; I am very much a city boy and not fond of encounters with wildlife.)

I love how you worded this. My sentiments, exactly!

On another note, I can't bear to read the details of this story. Imagining what happened to that baby breaks my heart.

 

[w1df10wr]

I hope that baby gets better very soon!

 

[tiredblondy]

Sorry. Never meant to deceive. I don't really get that whole "pretend to be someone you're not" thing on the internet.

For what it's worth, most posters seem to assume I'm female until I say otherwise. I don't know if it's because the overwhelming majority of WS posters are women or because my hat has a feminine ending. (It's the name of my high school, BTW.)

But now you know I'm just a wimp when it comes to wild animals.

The funny thing is I grew up near the 'Glades and thought nothing of running with the snakes and gators. I guess the decades in NYC and LA changed me...

(ETA: now that I've read Herding Cats story, at least I've never climbed up on a major appliance. But I do know what she means about possums. We had those in LA and I learned the hard way that urban possums don't play dead for humans, they stand their ground and growl as if they were mountain lions.)

Growing up and living where I do I have dealt with a lot of raccoons and possums!
I had rather deal with 3 raccoons than 1 possum. They are vicious!

 

[Nova]

Growing up and living where I do I have dealt with a lot of raccoons and possums!
I had rather deal with 3 raccoons than 1 possum. They are vicious!

The first time I encountered a possum in LA I thought I would "teach it" to not come so near the front porch (where I was sitting with bare feet).

So I waited until it was a couple of yards away, then picked up a handful of gravel and thew it near--not at, because I don't believe in injurying wildlife unless it is absolutely necessary to protect humans--the possum. That dang thing turned around, advanced on me and gave me all sorts of what fer.

How did it even know the gravel came from me?!

After that, I just left them alone. They do move on, slowly, and you can reclaim your yard.

And we don't seem to have them out here in the desert. I don't know whether it is too hot or possums are just too slow to outrun coyotes.

 

[Melly53]

I was just not buying their story of the raccoons getting into the house by accident and it looks like I was right unfortunately. Were the raccoons just allowed to roam around free in their house? Where was the mother during this? Raccoons have very sharp teeth and I would think by 9 months of age that the baby would have screamed bloody murder at the first bite or scratch. Makes me wonder if they had allowed the baby to play with the raccoons and the "play" got out of hand and they ended up attacking it.

So sad that their ignorance has caused their baby so much needless pain and suffering. I am praying that she survives this incident.

 

[noZme]

Prayers for the child. It's hard to believe that 2 wild animals came inside..... one time only.

I foster/rehab wildlife & know 1st hand that as cute as coons are washing their food & using their "hands", those claws are sharp (& teeth too. I posted a pic of Frick & Frack in "Random Pics" a long time ago. They are on a chair in my den, but only loose indoors for a quick picture. I raise animals to be returned to the wild & we are especially happy when a raccoon graduates.)

Nova, your story cracked me up. Opossums sometimes come to eat dog & catfood my pets leave & very often at night they munch at a bird feeder. We know not to challenge them & the animals either want to come indoors or go around front. I once raised 6 babies that were pinkies, about the size of my little finger when I got them. From the time they grew fur & teeth, they snarled & hissed at me, even stopping in the middle of a bottle to do so. Little buggers must have known, I was their only source for food. So cute, dangling by the tail from a finger, but I was thrilled the day they were released. The 1st 3 weeks, I did 6 feedings each day. 6X6 =36!

Squirrels, deer, coons & some other wild animals lose the fear of human contact while nursing, but instinct brings it right back when handled properly. Coons that have been hand-raised or just tossed food, would have lost that fear & scavenging, just walking across a baby, checking out smells could scratch a cut soft baby skin.

 

[joeskidbeck]

I also live in Georgia (Northwest, near mountains) and the only time I've ever seen raccoons is when we go camping. We always go to campgrounds, you know, the kind with swimming pools and playgrounds. Every time we go raccoons attack our campsite as soon as we go to bed. You absolutely cannot leave any food out that is not stored in plastic or metal containers with lids. You also would not believe how loud they are when they are scavaging for food. I don't think they fear anything at all!

 

[Kymistry35]

Living in the country we run into wildlife all the time. My uncle used to have two raccoons as pets when I was a kid and we used to love to play with them. I never know they could be dangerous.

 

[drip~drop]

Me? I've always wanted my own racoon. Go figure.
Oddly enough, like another poster here, we live in the sticks and the only time I see one, it's roadkill.

Several years ago, I had to call the cops to get me and the dogs in the house. Only the back door was open and of course I wasn't carrying keys on me to get in the front door.
There was a possum on the back porch snarling at us, mouth so wide, my head could have fit inside.
After I stopped screaming I called and they came and made it all better.
(while they were laughing hysterically). Yeah, one day I stuck my bare hand in a bag of dirt and grabbed a bunch of fur. Yep, another possum. They seem to like it here.


Keeping wild animals as pets isn't a great idea but it's an even stupider idea when a baby is involved. I hope the poor baby is alright.

 

[noZme]

Early in our marriage we lived on company land in the country. Late in the afternoon, oppossums would come thru the kitty door onto the screened porch & wait with the cats for dinnertime. I finally had enough of univited appetites & would brush them down the steps with the broom before bringing the food out. It took several weeks of conditioning, but they became discouraged & came only on occasion. One attempted retaliation by snatching Little Red Hen from her roost, but thankfully, my hero, Mr noZme saved her from the mouth of the snarling beast ( after which she developed a severe nervousness problem).

Also, we were startled awake one night by a disagreement with our german shepard & a racoon. Despite the size of the dog, Rocky Raccoon won the fight.

All this is more off-topic chat, but I add it to explain that wild animals are not really suited for family pets. Nature wins over nurture in the animal world.... Has there been an update on the baby's condition?

 

[noZme]

& now the whole truth:

Father charged in baby's raccoon attack

The father of the baby attacked by raccoons had raised the animals as pets since June and bottle-fed them, the Newton County Sheriff's Office said Thursday afternoon. Michael Wayne Cannon, 35, allegedly placed the two raccoons in the family's backyard a month before the Nov. 3 attack.

The raccoons would often gain access into the Brook Hollow Way home through open windows and side panels of window air conditioning units & that is what investigators believe happened when the 9-month-old girl was attacked as she slept in a crib.

The baby, is no longer hospitalized & is recovering from her injuries.

GA DNR charged Cannon with holding & possessing game species without a permit & unlawful possession or use of wildlife. Both of the charges are misdemeanors. He was booked into the Newton County jail and later released on $2,000 bond.

http://www.ajc.com/news/father-charged-in-babys-745879.html

 

[angelmom]

& now the whole truth:

Father charged in baby's raccoon attack

The father of the baby attacked by raccoons had raised the animals as pets since June and bottle-fed them, the Newton County Sheriff's Office said Thursday afternoon. Michael Wayne Cannon, 35, allegedly placed the two raccoons in the family's backyard a month before the Nov. 3 attack.

The raccoons would often gain access into the Brook Hollow Way home through open windows and side panels of window air conditioning units & that is what investigators believe happened when the 9-month-old girl was attacked as she slept in a crib.

The baby, is no longer hospitalized & is recovering from her injuries.

GA DNR charged Cannon with holding & possessing game species without a permit & unlawful possession or use of wildlife. Both of the charges are misdemeanors. He was booked into the Newton County jail and later released on $2,000 bond.

http://www.ajc.com/news/father-charged-in-babys-745879.html

:furious::furious::furious::furious:

How about child endangerment? Nothing about the baby in these charges!!!


Reminds me of one of my favorite t-shirts ever:

Stupidity is not a crime
so you're free to go.​

:banghead:

 

[kgeaux]

& now the whole truth:

Father charged in baby's raccoon attack

The father of the baby attacked by raccoons had raised the animals as pets since June and bottle-fed them, the Newton County Sheriff's Office said Thursday afternoon. Michael Wayne Cannon, 35, allegedly placed the two raccoons in the family's backyard a month before the Nov. 3 attack.

The raccoons would often gain access into the Brook Hollow Way home through open windows and side panels of window air conditioning units & that is what investigators believe happened when the 9-month-old girl was attacked as she slept in a crib.

The baby, is no longer hospitalized & is recovering from her injuries.

GA DNR charged Cannon with holding & possessing game species without a permit & unlawful possession or use of wildlife. Both of the charges are misdemeanors. He was booked into the Newton County jail and later released on $2,000 bond.

http://www.ajc.com/news/father-charged-in-babys-745879.html

I wish the charges were more about what happened to the baby, don't you? I wouldn't have any problem at all supporting a charge of failure to protect his child, but.....that isn't what he is charged with.

Having said that, I wonder if this man was aware of the danger of what he was doing. Stupid is stupid, but is stupid illegal? I ask this because just a few short years ago, I entertained my neighbors raccoons almost daily when they'd come by my home for an evening snack. I had NO IDEA that they could be dangerous, they were so dang cute! Also, this man sounds as if he really tried to take care of the raccoons----he bottle fed them, which indicates to me that he got them as babies. Is it possible that this man did not know that he was not legally allowed to save raccoon babies by bottle feeding them? Is it possible that the raccoons had always been gentle around him, and he did not have a clue that they could hurt his little girl?

Regardless of the questions I have, I have to say how very, very happy I am that this little child is released from the hospital and is recovering. I pray her injuries do not cause lasting problems.