Raccoon Boot Camp Sends Its Newest Graduates Into the Wild

At a wildlife rescue in Pass Christian, Mississippi, the newest recruits are small, masked, and not especially interested in following orders. They are orphaned and injured baby raccoons, and their training program is affectionately known as “raccoon boot camp.”

Woodside Wildlife Rescue cares for young raccoons separated from their mothers by storms, traffic accidents, and other emergencies. Some arrive so young that they must be bottle-fed indoors. However, the goal is never to turn them into pets. It is to prepare them for the lives they were meant to live.

As they grow, the raccoons move outside and begin exploring the rescue’s 20-acre property. Staff members teach them to search for food, move safely through the woods, and recognize places where predators may be hiding. Because hurricanes and flooding are part of life along the Mississippi coast, the program includes swimming lessons, too.

The final lesson may be the hardest. An unfamiliar volunteer briefly traps the raccoons, teaching them that cages—and the humans who set them—should be avoided. It is an unusual act of kindness: helping the animals learn not to trust the people who saved them.

After about six months, the successful recruits are ready for graduation. Their names are read aloud while “Pomp and Circumstance” plays. A reverend blesses their journey, and the young raccoons are released into a wooded portion of the property to begin life on their own. There are no diplomas, although several graduates are probably qualified in advanced trash-can inspection.

For the rescuers, letting go can be emotional, but that is the purpose of the work. The best ending is not a raccoon that stays close to its human caregivers. It is one that disappears into the trees, healthy, cautious, and ready to make a little mischief of its own.