There's a Noise in the Bin
I may have saved a life today. Well, not maybe, I definitely saved a life today, the question is how did I save a life today?
Just like every other morning in my life I woke, showered, dressed and then took the dogs for a walk. We walked our normal route around the neighborhood, around a nearby park, through another neighborhood and back to ours.
Just like every other morning. Nothing different at all.
As we came back around to our neighborhood from the opposite direction I heard a rustling in the dumpster on the corner. This wasn't uncommon as squirrels like to get in there and tear apart the garbage bags looking for food. However, the attention Rufus gave to the noise was uncanny. Usually when he hears the squirrels he searches around the dumpster and when he doesn't find anything to chase he follows me. I rarely stop walking this is so common.
But this rustling seemed somehow larger and Rufus seemed way more interested in what was making the noise. I stepped into the dumpster's corral and looked inside the big blue box. Obviously the garbage collection service had been by within the past 24 hours as the dumpster was nearly empty. Well, empty of trash. In fact, there were some raccoons in there looking for a free meal.
One of the raccoons stuck it's nose out of a water drainage hole in the bottom and Rufus just went bonkers trying to get to it, but I held him back, releasing him only after realizing there was no way he could harm or be harmed by the animals through that small hole.
I snapped an image of the raccoons and then for giggles picked Rufus up and let him look at the furry bandits as I saw them. I think he went to hunter's heaven for a second there before I set him back down.
Realizing the animals were small, possibly the size of a house cat, I looked around for any avenue of escape for them. There was nothing. As I stated before, the can was nearly empty, the walls were four feet of sheer metal with no hand holds or anything else to grab hold of and climb free. The raccoons were stuck. For a second I feared the next garbage pickup would just dump them in the back of their truck and either kill them or deposit them at the local dump.
With that scenario in mind I walked the dogs home, dragging Rufus who didn't want to leave, and then walked the neighborhood looking for something to put in the dumpster that would give the animals an escape route. Usually, the dumpster areas have furniture or extra wood people toss out, bicycles and electronics but I found nothing. Not only had the service been by recently, but the grounds crew were clearing out the dumpster enclosures as I looked.
Finally I remembered an area on the other side of the neighborhood where extra building supplies were stored. I walked over there and found a handful of 2x4s as well as an old pallet. While in route to this area I went ahead and called the city's police dispatch and asked them if they had animal control who could help these guys escape. The dispatcher, Brad, took down the address nearest the dumpster and said he'd send someone along. In the meantime, I grabbed one of the 2x4s and walked it back to the garbage bin and dropped it in leaving the end of it sticking out for the animals to make their escape.
I let the dispatcher know what I'd done and went home. Surprisingly, it wasn't 20 minutes before I received a phone call from the animal control officer. He'd helped the raccoons escape and was letting me know they were in a nearby tree. He asked if I was the person who put the 2x4 in the bin and I said yes, I was. He told me that was a brilliant idea and if the animals were still in there come sundown they would have used it to escape, but as it was, raccoons don't typically make their way around during the day.
I did not know that. I knew they were more active at night, but not that they were unwilling to move about during the day.
The officer also mentioned the four raccoons were young and that full grown raccoons would have the muscles strength to jump out of the dumpster of their own.
I didn't know that, either.
I thanked him for not taking the animals in for euthanizing and he admitted that, per law, they are not allowed to put an animal down unless it's sick or aggressive. As these were neither, he just helped them along.
Now, off to traffic court. Yay!
Just like every other morning in my life I woke, showered, dressed and then took the dogs for a walk. We walked our normal route around the neighborhood, around a nearby park, through another neighborhood and back to ours.
Just like every other morning. Nothing different at all.
As we came back around to our neighborhood from the opposite direction I heard a rustling in the dumpster on the corner. This wasn't uncommon as squirrels like to get in there and tear apart the garbage bags looking for food. However, the attention Rufus gave to the noise was uncanny. Usually when he hears the squirrels he searches around the dumpster and when he doesn't find anything to chase he follows me. I rarely stop walking this is so common.
 |
| Believe it or not, there are four |
One of the raccoons stuck it's nose out of a water drainage hole in the bottom and Rufus just went bonkers trying to get to it, but I held him back, releasing him only after realizing there was no way he could harm or be harmed by the animals through that small hole.
I snapped an image of the raccoons and then for giggles picked Rufus up and let him look at the furry bandits as I saw them. I think he went to hunter's heaven for a second there before I set him back down.
Realizing the animals were small, possibly the size of a house cat, I looked around for any avenue of escape for them. There was nothing. As I stated before, the can was nearly empty, the walls were four feet of sheer metal with no hand holds or anything else to grab hold of and climb free. The raccoons were stuck. For a second I feared the next garbage pickup would just dump them in the back of their truck and either kill them or deposit them at the local dump.
 |
| One raccoon remains hidden beneath the others |
Finally I remembered an area on the other side of the neighborhood where extra building supplies were stored. I walked over there and found a handful of 2x4s as well as an old pallet. While in route to this area I went ahead and called the city's police dispatch and asked them if they had animal control who could help these guys escape. The dispatcher, Brad, took down the address nearest the dumpster and said he'd send someone along. In the meantime, I grabbed one of the 2x4s and walked it back to the garbage bin and dropped it in leaving the end of it sticking out for the animals to make their escape.
I let the dispatcher know what I'd done and went home. Surprisingly, it wasn't 20 minutes before I received a phone call from the animal control officer. He'd helped the raccoons escape and was letting me know they were in a nearby tree. He asked if I was the person who put the 2x4 in the bin and I said yes, I was. He told me that was a brilliant idea and if the animals were still in there come sundown they would have used it to escape, but as it was, raccoons don't typically make their way around during the day.
I did not know that. I knew they were more active at night, but not that they were unwilling to move about during the day.
I didn't know that, either.
I thanked him for not taking the animals in for euthanizing and he admitted that, per law, they are not allowed to put an animal down unless it's sick or aggressive. As these were neither, he just helped them along.
Now, off to traffic court. Yay!
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