Wibby visits England

[Bruin Fisher]

Somehow I missed this news item from January but I came across it just now by chance.

Wibby's visit to Dorset

[Richard Norway]

I'm wondering if someone got tired of finding surprises in their shoes in the morning and just let the pet go on the streets one night. That's why there had been no reports of a missing raccoon.

[Trab]

I never knew the raccoons are North American, and have only been spread elsewhere by escaping or released pets. I thought it was very strange that the first reaction was to wonder whose pet had been lost. Here it is more likely that we wonder whose pet has been eaten overnight.

[Cole Parker]

I had exactly the same reaction when reading the story, Trab. They're all over in this country, rather like lice on prison blankets in Siberian prison camps, and are held in much the same regard. We'd never assume one found in the wild was a lost pet. I too didn't realize they were only North Americans' problems.

On a tangential topic, two 'ghost cats' (clouded leopards) were born in captivity in Virginia recently. The species is described as: "The breed is native to Southeast Asia. It is about the size of a medium-weight dog, with a small head, luminous eyes and long, white whiskers. It has black and tan spots that seem to blur into one another, huge paws and an extremely long tail. It is an acrobatic climber and can walk on the underside of tree branches or vertically down a tree trunk. It has unusually long, sharp teeth that resemble the fangs on a poisonous snake."

Putting two and two together, I understand why they're breeding these critters. The natural selection progress that controls and balances critter poulations seems to have missed a link, as raccoons continue to proliferate. Perhaps they have the right idea in Virginia and are hoping to quell the pests there naturally, with a little help of our Southeast Asian friends.

C

[Tanuki Racoon]

Raccoons don't eat peoples' pets. That's a lie. We'll certainly overturn your rubbish and strew it about gleefully. We'll dump in your shoes, twice if your name is Cole. We'll cause mayhem as well.

And we make very poor pets.

PS: Loved article.

[Bruin Fisher]

PS: Loved article.

Thought you'd like it, Wibby!