Saturday, June 20, 2009

Prepare your insulin

Raccoon kits living in a Pepsi machine.

5 comments:

Michael Corley said...

I think Pepsi has a potential marketing ploy here. Think about it.

Would you get a cool beverage from a sterile machine, or one filled with frolicing woodland creatures?

Simon MacDonald said...

This is actually what my wife does for a living or did for many years until the government changed the regulations on handling wild animals. She still works for the non-profit organization Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre but they don't do animal rehab anymore. Now she visits schools education young city kids about wildlife.

In the past though she's handled squirrels, raccoons, beavers, otters, deer, skunks, bears, foxes, coyotes, etc. in the run of her job. You can check out their website above for some info and pictures she's taken of animals over the years.

J.S. said...

That's cool, Simon! It's always cool to hear stories about people helping animals. I just spent a couple of days at an animal law conference, and it turned out not to be all that relevant to what I do for a living (as a prosecutor, I occasionally prosecute animal cruelty cases), but it was interesting and sort of inspiring to hear the stories of a bunch of people who are passionate about protecting animals (the conference turned out to be mostly geared toward lawyers who work for nonprofit animal protection and advocacy groups).

The League said...

I had no idea your wife could wrassle a bear, Simon. I am now even more impressed by the Mac Donald clan (wrestling squirrels is also impressive, but I imagine your wife has the advantage of reach in that face off).

Simon MacDonald said...

@Jason, yeah I imagine as a prosecutor you must have to balance those cases very carefully. At least in Canada a animal cruelty charge is a criminal conviction. Being a convicted felon can seriously hamper your future career prospects and life. Mind you people who are cruel to animals frequently go on to commit more heinous crimes. I don't envy your position.

@Ryan Actually the bears are easier to deal with. They seem to understand that you are helping them while the squirrels just want to get away.

Quick tip, when petting a baby porcupine always stroke them from head to toe. Never in the other direction.