"Hi! Ooh. You're in a mood."
It was hard to say who was more nervous:
Mabel the raccoon or her rescuer, Whitney.
Mabel had never been this close to people before.
And even though Whitney worked at an animal hospital,
this was her first time fostering a raccoon.
But despite being nervous, she couldn't wait to get started.
"Hi."
If Whitney was going to help Mabel grow
big enough to go back to the wild, they would need to trust each other.
So she gave her lots of space.
And as soon as she brought out the bottle...
"What do you think?"
Mabel was on board.
"She's sucking on my hand."
"I don't know why."
And she let Whitney know.
"When you scratch her, she purrs."
Mabel couldn't wait to see the world outside her crate.
She was like, "I have to feel everything."
"Is this grass?"
"Oh, no. It's just a beard."
Mabel was growing so well...
"Look how big your hands got."
but she wasn't exactly acting like a raccoon.
Whitney knew something was missing.
Raccoons need to grow up with other raccoons
so they can play and develop their instincts.
Otherwise, they'd just be doing this all day.
So Whitney decided to foster two more baby raccoons:
Willow and Leroy.
They also needed help getting big enough to go back to the wild.
"Mabel, this is Leroy, your new brother."
But Mabel was like, "No way. Not in my crate."
"Mabel's so scared. Oh."
But even though Mabel was nervous, she trusted Whitney.
So she decided to come out and sniff these new intruders.
And they didn't smell so bad.
In fact, they smelled just like her.
It wasn't long before Mabel realized having siblings was actually pretty fun.
"Oh, you can't all climb on me."
And Whitney was surprised to see
Mabel acting like a raccoon.
"Mabel, are you climbing?"
It seemed like their instincts were kicking in.
"You guys are wild."
"You know, you could pick different spots of the cage"
"so you don't step on each other."
And they needed more space.
The raccoons were growing big enough to finally be ready for
an outdoor enclosure.
There, they could practice being outside raccoons
until they were finally ready to go back to the wild.
Whitney had never seen them so excited before.
It seemed like the perfect place for them.
But then one morning, this happened:
"So I just woke up to quite a surprise."
"The raccoons dug their way out last night."
"And they're gone."
Whitney was worried. They weren't ready to be released.
What if something bad happened?
She left the door open, hoping they might come back on their own.
And sure enough, by the end of the day...
"Mabel's home."
"Come on, girlie!"
"Leroy just came back."
"Hi, baby."
"Oh, I'm so happy."
All was quiet in the raccoon home.
The hole was fixed, and everyone was safe inside.
But three days later...
"Where are you going?"
That's when Whitney realized what they needed:
a special raccoon door so they could come and go as they pleased.
Mabel and her siblings were free to explore
during the day and try out their new raccoon instincts,
but they always came back for a nighttime snack.
One day, Whitney knows they may stay out in the wild for good.
She'll miss their soft paws and their raccoon hijinks,
but she'll be glad that even though she was scared, she took a chance on
not one, but three, fluffy little raccoons,
who took a chance on her.