Neither dog, cat nor fox: woman wonders about strange animal in garden
Cape Breton Island (Canada) - Her cat was frightened out of his wits, and she herself was also severely irritated. Jamie Forgeron was amazed in the spring when she saw a mysterious hairless creature scurrying through her garden. What kind of animal was it?
Forgeron, who lives with her husband in Cape Breton, Canada, was faced with a conundrum. So she called "Hope For Wildlife", a wildlife rehabilitation center with several locations nearby.
The people there asked her to set a trap for the unusual animal. Forgeron actually had a suitable cage in which she placed cat food.
Within a few hours, she managed to lure the hairless animal out of the trap. Shortly after it was trapped, the Hope For Wildlife staff arrived.
Then they finally discovered what kind of animal it was.
Current photo suggests that the fur is no longer growing back
The experts quickly realized that they were dealing with a hairless raccoon. "It was as calm as anything. It was almost like it knew it was going to get help," Forgeron said of the animal in an interview with CBC.
Eventually Rufus, as the female is now known, came to live at Hope For Wildlife in Seaforth. Its founder Hope Swinimer said that the raccoon was doing well. However, they still don't know why she has hardly any hair.
"Under good supervision and with good nutrition, she may be able to grow back some of her fur and be released," Swinimer said back in March.
However, a later photo shows that Rufus unfortunately still has no new fur. In the snapshot, she can be seen hidden between several conspecifics, with only her bare head sticking out.