Truck Driver Discovers She’s Driven Cross-Country With 2 Tiny Stowaways
“[T]hese two are so expressive, protective and must always be together.”
When staff members at Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, first heard that there was a pair of baby raccoons from Denver, Colorado, in the area who needed help, confused staffers didn’t know what to think.
“We were stunned and not sure we heard the officer correctly,” the rescue wrote in a Facebook post.
As it turns out, a raccoon family had unknowingly stowed away on a tractor trailer and spent days traveling from Denver to Pennsylvania. Once at the destination, the truck driver was shocked to notice a mother raccoon anxiously fleeing from the vehicle, leaving behind two babies in the truck bed.
After unsuccessfully attempting to reunite the babies with their mother, an officer brought the pair to Raven Ridge, where staff members lovingly named them John and Denver.
Before she met John and Denver, wildlife rehabilitator Tracie Young feared the worst. She knew the babies had been stuck in the truck for several days, and she was worried they would be severely malnourished and sickly. However, when she finally met the pair, she was heartened to notice that they’d fared far better than she’d thought.
“They looked really good,” Young told The Dodo.
Young made sure the dehydrated raccoons got lots of fluids and gradually got them drinking formula. Soon, they were stronger and healthier.
Rescuers at Raven Ridge were so taken by the little raccoons’ laid-back and loving personalities. They were happy the two babies had each other, as the center always tries to raise any babies with other babies of their species so that they can learn to socialize correctly.
“Our team of volunteers are just amazed how much these two are so expressive, protective and must always be together,” Raven Ridge wrote in a Facebook post.
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For now, the raccoons are still living at Raven Ridge while staff members work to find them a suitable home. Since state game commission laws prohibit the raccoons from being moved back across state lines or released in Pennsylvania, rescuers are hopeful they will be able to find a permanent sanctuary where John and Denver can live.
“We’re going to be so picky about where they go,” Young said. “I just don’t want them in a cage.”
Until then, John and Denver are still side by side, happy to be safe and happier to have each other.