Woman sweetly feeds raccoon like a human baby
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00:00 He has a little high chair that I have. He gets spoon-fed.
00:04 Let's get that off your nose.
00:06 I am Elizabeth, and this is Paul's story for GeoBeats.
00:09 Do you want an apple? No?
00:12 Are you the cutest baby?
00:14 I got a call from another rehabber.
00:16 Paul was found in a neighborhood in a residential area.
00:19 Is it good?
00:20 They found him in their yard under a tree.
00:22 Paul had two other siblings.
00:24 I think somebody either tracked mom, relocated her, or she passed away.
00:28 It's a little baby. It's a hungry baby.
00:30 So I had Peter, Paul, and Mary, three baby raccoons that were brought to me.
00:34 These are the three little monkeys.
00:36 Here we got Paul and Mary.
00:39 Sadly, Peter passed away, and I was able to keep Paul and his sister alive.
00:43 Thirsty Thursday. We've got our criss-cross going on.
00:47 It was basically 24-hour care of giving them fluids, fluids, fluids, just to get them through.
00:52 I think that's it.
00:54 Paul, he started showing some neurological issues.
00:57 When I would try to stand him up, he would fall over on his side.
01:00 Are you the cutest?
01:02 So I had to tube feed him to get nutrients in him.
01:05 The end result was that he survived the distemper, but it affected him where he was unable to walk.
01:11 It's okay.
01:13 Papa!
01:14 So he gets therapy. He gets put in a harness where he runs.
01:17 He also gets water therapy in a little pool that I have outside.
01:20 He gets spoon-fed. I make this special meal for him, and it's got all the nutrients in it.
01:25 Come on, open up.
01:27 He goes to get the water, too.
01:30 He also can't drink water out of a bowl, so he has to have water from a baby bottle that you eat a normal baby.
01:35 He's social. He's animated. He's funny.
01:38 He tries to be a real raccoon when he's moving around.
01:41 When he sees me, he gets excited. When he sees food, he gets excited.
01:44 Who's getting breakfast?
01:46 Food. He's waiting patiently for breakfast.
01:49 He's imprinted on me.
01:50 If somebody else comes around him to try to feed him or to handle him, he is frightened, and he starts to growl.
01:57 He hears Mama's voice, and he calms down, but when it's just me, he goes crazy.
02:01 I can't have anybody else take care of him.
02:03 He gets rinsed daily, but he'll get a bath two to three times a week because he does lay on his side.
02:08 Come on.
02:10 Good boy. Good boy.
02:15 He's so dependent on me, and because he only likes me, we're very attached.
02:21 He's sleeping on the floor behind me now.
02:23 I leave the room. He cries.
02:25 I actually have a backpack that I'll put him in to carry him around the house with me.
02:29 That is delicious.
02:31 He can never be released into the wild.
02:33 In captivity, they can live up to 20 years, so that's 20 years of care that I will have to give him, one-on-one care that he will have.
02:40 Come on, Polly Wally.
02:42 There you go.
02:45 Oops. Are you falling?
02:49 Did that accidentally fall out?
02:51 There we go. Oops.
02:56 Oh, that's good.
03:00 He will stay the remainder of his life here.
03:02 So cute. Look at you and your little feet.
03:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:09 [Music]