Your morning adorable: Rub-a-dub-dub, raccoons in a tub

If there's anything cuter than a baby raccoon, we're hard-pressed to think of what it could be -- unless it's two baby raccoons.  Mary Cummins of the L.A.-based wildlife rehabilitation organization Animal Advocates shares this video on her YouTube channel (which, incidentally, is chock-full of adorable baby animals and is well worth a perusal). 

Cummins explains that she placed these two in a bathtub while she cleaned their carrier -- well, that was the idea, anyway.  "I thought I'd put them in the tub for easy cleaning, but unfortunately they can climb out," she writes. "I had to put them in another clean carrier while I prepared their cage." 

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-- Lindsay Barnett

Video: MaryCummins via YouTube

Comments

[Tom]

Well they may be cute when the are little like that but adult raccoons are awful, surly, crafty menaces. They popped our kids inflatable pool and left a bloody mess in it. The left muddy tracks across my freshly painted deck, and climbed all over our patio furniture. One got trapped in the garage and tried to attack me before I could open the door. And one morning we woke to find all our pet fish gone from their tanks. One or more raccoons had made their way under our garage door and through the cat door and feasted on our beautiful Betas (the tanks all had lids, one a screw on top, that had been meticulously removed). That was the final straw. I bought a trap and have sent 14 of the nasties away with Animal Control, who I can assure you lose no sleep over sending them to the big fish pond in the sky. So they may be cute when they're little, but adults living in your neighbor's shed are something to despise.

[Mary]

If you don't want wildlife on your property, you can deter them. Keep your garage door closed and secure. Lock your pet doors at night. If raccoons are coming through your pet door, so are mice, rats and roaches. It's also an easy way for a robber to gain access to your home. Raccoons are naturally attracted to water. Don't leave a kiddy pool out with water or they will get in it. They are also attracted to fish, one of their favorite foods. Build your ponds a little deeper so they can't get your fish. If you don't lock your garage door, cat door, you will have to trap and kill raccoons forever. Deterring them is easier, cheaper and more humane.