Living in a local fishing boat, AHS Animal Control Officer helps relocate a family of raccoons.
A huge thank you goes out to all involved with rescuing a momma raccoon and her little ones from a local fishing boat recently! When a Barnegat resident went to get his boat ready to put in the water for the season, he found the unlikely stowaways down in the cabin. The gentleman did the right thing, and called for professional assistance.
Our Animal Control Officer, Maria Cymanski, was on the job! She placed the appropriate deterrents (radio, lights, etc.) in the hatch area and waited for the family to vacate the premises. Well, the mom vacated but unfortunately, the babies were left behind!
When the boat owner alerted Maria to the situation, she went out once again and she set up a comfortable, quiet, discreet trap and let the boat owner know that the mother would soon be back to feed her little ones. She asked that he give them time and eventually, they would all go into the trap. Maria was happy to get the call that finally, they were all in! She picked up the family and brought them to one of our wildlife rehabbers, Jean Parker, who will care for the whole family until they’re all ready to be released and go on to live their happy raccoon lives.
Thanks so much to this boat owner, who took the time to do the right thing. More often than not, people deal with wildlife issues in a less-than-humane way in order to quickly remedy the situation. This doesn’t always end well for the animal(s). In the case of this raccoon family, they’ll be kept safe, all of the babies will be raised by their mother, and they will all be able to go on living the normal, good lives that they should be able to live.
As always, thank you to ACO Maria for always going above and beyond! And thank you to Jean Parker for always being there to help animals in need. It takes a village!
