"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
Please tell all. "Raccoons in the garden" is an urg legend. For you to
have actually had some, in the UK, is roughly the equivalent of an
urgler reporting irrefutable evidence of fairies at the bottom of their
garden. Instant fame! :-)

Janet.

Our neighbours in Longwick used to be licensed dangerous wild animal
keepers. They had about 250 animals and birds, including rescued arctic
foxes, short-clawed otters, lemurs, coatimundi, marmosets, meerkats,
raccoons and more.
They used to rescue them from run-down zoos and over-ambitious private
keepers. They also took in sick birds that had been off-loaded at Heathrow.

One day Jan didn't latch the two security doors properly on the raccoon
enclosure. The raccoons shuffled out and spent a glorious few days exploring
the trees and stream at the bottom of neighbouring gardens. They would come
to within finger-tip distance if food was offered but shot off again if
anyone made a sudden move. Eventually they managed to net the female and put
her back into the enclosure. The male soon followed.

The collection was split up when poor health overtook them - I know they
made a huge effort to vet the new owners for suitability. But it did seem
odd when all the animals had gone - there's nothing quite like being woken
to a Kookaburra and laughing thrush duet for the dawn chorus.....