Mariton: Family Squabble

by Tim Burris, Preserve Manager

I heard a ruckus while walking along the Woods Trail, and immediately started scanning the trees for raccoons.  Two small raccooons were fighting over where they planned to sleep that day.  It was a “domestic disturbance”, but you didn’t need to be Dr. Doolittle to translate the obsenities that they were hurling at each other.  I diffused the squabble when I tried to get closer for a photograph.  They both sought shelter in the tree cavity.  Still one of the raccoons wasn’t happy to be sharing its sleeping quarters.  I continued to hear hisses and cussing while I worked up the Spuce Trail for an eye level view, and I am certain they were not directed at me.  The camera only captured the reflections of their eyes.  When I retreated out of sight, the squabble renewed until one of the siblings relocated.