How To Summon a Raccoon, On Accident

Raccoons are adorable, fluffy, and appear to be very approachable in their natural habitat. We find them interesting with their bandit masked faces, the way they wash their hands and food before they eat, and their curiosity for the world around them. It's easy to forget they're feral animals and should not be treated as house pets. I've had several, semi-humorous/heart-warming experiences with these captivating little buddies but one of the most memorable encounters I've had was when I accidentally summoned a baby raccoon.

I should start off by saying I have a habit of making very obscure sounds at random; everything from what people call a predator noise from Alien Vs Predator to a high pitched squeaking noise that sounds something like a baby elephant. The noise that caused this story is neither of those but a chirping noise that I'm able to make by rolling my R's in the back of my throat. It's hard to put into words but I'll farther explain later on.

Over the years, I've had he pleasure of watching a mother raccoon raise multiple litters of babies in the sewer drain a short distance from my house. She would bring all the cubs out and show them what this Earth had to offer under the cover of night. My own family and myself being night people and animal lovers, we enjoyed seeing the little family explore and scavenge, not going too far from their home but far enough out to see a bit more beyond their storm drain. We would watch as the cubs grew and learned, eventually becoming full grown and leaving the nursery.

The raccoon family and my family coexisted happily, they stayed comfortably near their nest and us keeping a safe distance not to disturb them. Everything was great until last summer there was a certain kit of very adventurous cubs that wanted more than their mother was offering. One night as the mother was rounding up her six potato sized, fluff balls two of them decided to go for a wander on their own. A couple of my friends and I were outside at the time, chatting and having a nice evening when we heard the sounds of the mother chirping loudly, attempting to call the escapees back to their den.

We became onlookers as the harder she tried to put the babies back and got closer to having them all home, two more at a time would follow their siblings example. We giggled a little to ourselves watching the escapade and knowing the difficulty of parenting children. As a few minutes went by, I wondered to myself if there was anything I could do to help without getting too close. Suddenly what I thought was a brilliant idea was to replicate the sound the mother was making, just a touch louder, and maybe it would scare the kit back to their den.

I cleared my throat, took a deep breath, and let out the loudest raccoon chirp I possibly could. At first, there was nothing but the silence from it being the dead of night. The much to the dismay of myself, my audience, and the mother raccoon, the two more recently escaped cubs came bolting down the street straight towards my house. We could hear tiny, happy chirps and small claws hitting the concrete as they waddled their way directly at us.

This moment didn't last long for mama raccoon was having none of that and snatched back babies up, hauling them back home to stuff them into the nest. There was a lot of hushed sounds, squeaks and wooos, as the mother coaxed them to stay in their den. We humans had thought the event was over until we saw mama raccoon came racing down the block, stopping ten feet in front of us. She pointed and chirped what I can only assume were some not so kind things at us before racing back to put her litter to bed.

It's been months since then, over which we watched this nursery grow and become full grown. There were plenty of other instances with this particular litter, but none were as notable as accidentally calling over a couple of pups. There's still a few occasions while I'm on late night walks that the group of them will pop out of their sewer drain, and give me a quick call. I always chirp back and be sure to give an extra noise for mama raccoon who I'm sure hasn't forgotten. So remember friends, always take caution when summoning raccoons; you never know if you're going to get a stern talking to from the raccoon themselves.