Feeding hungry raccoons: teen wins hearts online for friendship with family of raccoons
- 7 years ago
SEATTLE — A young woman is quickly gaining attention on Twitter for her newfound kinship with a gaze of hungry raccoons.
In August of 2016, Kaylah Lynn, 18, began feeding a lone raccoon that came by her home in search of food. The teen opened her fridge to the raccoon with offerings of bread, and gave her the name Rosemary.
After a few regular feedings, Rosemary the raccoon stopped coming as often. Weeks later though, the raccoon started showing up with a four other family members. Before long, Lynn found herself providing dinner for the hungry critters every night at 7:30 on the dot.
The relationship was quick to catch fire on Twitter, garnering 22,000 retweets after Lynn’s pics were posted on December 28. While this friendly feeding may seem harmless, others looking to befriend raccoons and other wildlife should keep in mind, if raccoons get used to coming over for handouts, it may hamper their foraging skills in the wild. Experts say those offering food should probably only do it once in awhile, so the raccoons do not become reliant on humans for meals.
In August of 2016, Kaylah Lynn, 18, began feeding a lone raccoon that came by her home in search of food. The teen opened her fridge to the raccoon with offerings of bread, and gave her the name Rosemary.
After a few regular feedings, Rosemary the raccoon stopped coming as often. Weeks later though, the raccoon started showing up with a four other family members. Before long, Lynn found herself providing dinner for the hungry critters every night at 7:30 on the dot.
The relationship was quick to catch fire on Twitter, garnering 22,000 retweets after Lynn’s pics were posted on December 28. While this friendly feeding may seem harmless, others looking to befriend raccoons and other wildlife should keep in mind, if raccoons get used to coming over for handouts, it may hamper their foraging skills in the wild. Experts say those offering food should probably only do it once in awhile, so the raccoons do not become reliant on humans for meals.