Sometime late last week, I watched an Inside Edition story about one very destructive pet raccoon named Willie. I want to say it was late Friday night, like around midnight, and they were airing a previous episode. And I think it was Inside Edition, but it could’ve been another show similar to that format. Like I said, it was late. I was only up because I was trying to comfort poor Murph, who had come home from the hospital that day but who is relegated to sleeping downstairs for the next eight weeks because his injuries prevent him from coming up to the bedroom with us.
At any rate, the story caught my eye because (a) it was about an unusual pet, (b) it was about a raccoon, and (c) the pet’s name was Willie. (That’s my nickname for Wayne, who also has a tendency to be destructive.)
Destructive Willie
They showed video of Willie the raccoon up in the walls of a man’s kitchen. (I’d direct you to the YouTube video link, but it contains some strong language that I’m not sure Families.com members would appreciate. However, because Willie sparked my interest so much, I did find other videos I’ve linked to, as you’ll see below.)
Willie had chewed holes through the wall over the cabinets and was in general having a high time just being destructive. Or, rather, he was probably just being a raccoon, but doing so inside a house had disastrous results for the homeowner, a.k.a. the raccoon’s surrogate parents.
Surrogate Raccoon Parents
I say “surrogate parents” because the people who made Willie their pet raised him from a two-week-old orphaned babe. (To see video of them caring for baby Willie –bottle feeding him and cleaning up his “coon pudding” and all– click here.)
Apparently they’ve tried releasing Willie back to the wild, but he just ends up always coming back home to his people. Now he’s one of the family. (Willie has a dog brother, a beagle whose name I don’t know. To see them playing together, click here.)
Life as Willie
Other than playing and being a YouTube star (Willie’s got quite the following for his many videos and goes by the name “Raccoon Willie”), I don’t know much about Willie. I’d like to know more about his life as a pet raccoon.
What do they feed him? (I know they at least give him almonds for treats, because they did that in one of the videos.) Speaking of the videos, I’ve noticed Willie’s wearing a harness. Do they take him for walks? Does he use a litter box, or does he tell them he needs to go outside? How old is he now? Where does he sleep?
I know they’ve at least had him vaccinated because they said something about that during the broadcast. But it made me wonder if he likes the vet. Which made me think about getting to the vet. Does he like to go for rides?
So many questions. Who knows what the answers are, but one thing I don’t question is the love Willie’s people feel for him. He’s one very loved raccoon. (And lucky. Not too many pets would be alive after chewing up a kitchen like he did!)
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