Raccoons...

This afternoon when I came home from work, I decided to water the plants outside, so I opened the garage. In the garage, I heard this fairly loud noise, almost like a bird. It came from the side of the house, but when I checked it out, it turned out it was not a bird. There were two baby raccoons and one of them was making a lot of noise. The other one was too weak to really move or produce any noise. It really was a heartbreaking sight. I called several organizations, the city, the humane society and wild life sanctuaries, but nobody was willing, or able, to help. It was obvious they were suffering, dehydrated and desperately looking for their mother. We don't know what happened to the mother. Maybe she got killed, or perhaps she decided to abandon the young.  Whatever happened, it was clear she was not nearby and I felt we had to do something for them. You can't just leave them there!
In a last resort, we called our vet, and asked them if we could bring them there, and take them out of their misery. They were very helpful and accepted them without any trouble. We left them there, and they told us that they would assess them, and decide then whether they would try to keep them alive, or do the humane thing and euthanize them.  They said they would let us know what they decided, so I'll keep you posted.
Raccoons can be a nuisance, but seeing two small babies is absolutely heartbreaking. They are very, very cute but also very helpless. And yes, I know I have a huge soft spot for animals in need. Nothing wrong with that!

As for a follow up on last week, especially with regards to our presentation: it got cancelled... The ADM received last-minute notice that he needed to be somewhere else, so unfortunately, we will have to postpone. I was quite disappointed, but there is nothing we can do, and we'll try to get him out there later this summer. And we didn't waste our time too much; we will be using an adapted version of the presentation for our neighbouring base commander next week. Can't hurt to recycle presentations :)
Work has been good, but it is also busy. The good thing, however, is that it is very diverse and exciting, and also rewarding. So all in all, I can only say that I love my job!