Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary Release

This was the highlight of my week. We had two people from Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary come to release 4 rehabbed raccoons. The raccoons were found in Perth, and needed to be released within 25 km.

This is a bit late to be releasing them, but one of them had to put on a bit more weight. The boys and girls are from separate litters, BTW. Apparently, with Taco and Burrito: the bigger one was protecting the smaller one by the side of the road. Mary Kate and Ashley took their time to gain enough weight to be released.

They arrived, anxious to get going.
release from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Not so anxious to leave the crate after all!



Eventually...
raccoon release from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.




Eventually, they all climbed the same tree.



This is where they hung out for at least an hour.
raccoon release 1 from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

We were done for the day!



Joe went back in an hour and they were still there. I hope they do well.

There was a fisher at the trailcam in the night!

fisher from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Raccoon Release in the forest

This was so much fun! It gives me hope that these precious little baby raccoons were taken in and cared for since the spring. They were found in a brood of 7, orphaned in Smiths Falls, and taken in by Rideau Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. Only 4 survived. They have to be released within 15 km of where they were found, and that worked here! I am an avid watcher of Hope for Wildlife, in N.S. There are many who devote their time to critters. It doesn't matter where you volunteer, just do it! We volunteer with seniors, others work with children. It all works out!

First, one cage was opened. They were so happy to see a tree. Then, the 2nd carrier. They then ran from tree to tree, trying each one, moving along the forest. It was so joyful to see!

You can see from the video, they were trying to do selfies on the trailcam. They looked so happy! They will join Aethelred bear, the other raccoons (Butch & Sundance),  Jaws (our goldfish pond watersnake), the 3 coyotes and Bambi and fawns, our Barred owl family, and our porcupine.



At the end of the day, a rainbow. Hard to see, harder to photograph, but it was there. It was, to me, a sign. Then, overnight, we had 12.7 mm or glorious rain. I could imagine our raccoons dancing in the rain!


Further research shows that there was much controversy surrounding releasing of wildlife. McGinty's government decided that a mandatory release of within 1 km of rescue was the law. The front line workers and stakeholders (volunteers, wildlife groups), lobbied, since this was nigh impossible in big cities. They changed the laws in 2005. Rabies was the big issues, but they have realized that trapping raccoons in cities (like the event we saw in Niagara-on-the-lake), inoculating them and releasing them, prevents the spread of rabies.

Toronto, Wednesday, November 9, 2005: Actions by the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources, David Ramsay reached a new low when his staff posted regressive changes to regulations governing wildlife rehabilitators. This was done just days prior to the start of an international wildlife rehabilitation conference being held in Toronto this week.  Ministry staff tried to spin the changes as "a good news story" for rehabilitation.