| At first
glance this photo may look like just a cute raccoon
picture. But the story behind her eyes speaks volumes.
Being a gardener and a photographer living on 10 acres
of land where there is much wildlife, there is never
nothing going on. On this particular day as I was
gardening, a baby raccoon came to visit. This is the
second day that she had come around. It was obvious that
her mom and the rest of her family were gone as I had
seen the whole family a week before. She was very
thirsty , very small and seemed weak. She laid her head
in my bromeliad leaves which hold water and stayed there
drinking. I went and grabbed more water, filled up the
leaves and put down a bowl of water and some crackers. I
had my camera so started photographing her as she
started munching on the crackers. The sadness in her
eyes made me cry. I wasn’t sure what to do, as she was
not scared of me and seemed to be asking me for help. I
ran inside and got my phone, ran back outside to be with
her and called the Wildlife Hospital. I explained what
was going on and they told me to bring her in. I felt
good that maybe she would be ok. When I got back home,
hearing gun shots, I discovered a neighbor was shooting
raccoons on his property. He shot and killed the mom. As
I was preserving life, he was taking it away. Rosie the
Raccoon unfortunately did not make it. After a week she
died in the hospital. But she lives on in my heart and
has a place on my wall. 1/12/2011 R.I.P Rosie. You had a
right to life. |