On Thursday night, we were peeking at the raccoons through the french doors when Rich exclaimed that one of the baby raccoons couldn’t climb onto the upper deck. Something was wrong with it foot.

He went outside and lowered the food to the lower deck and about a half hour later, the injured raccoon returned. Both of its legs were facing backwards and it didn’t seem to have any strength in its hindquarter. We surmised that it must have either fallen from the roof or a tree and broke its back, leaving it paralyzed.

The next morning, we contacted a local wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center with the hope that they’d come out and help trap and perhaps rehabilitate the raccoon. They explained that they didn’t have the staff to come out to people’s houses.

Great.We’d have to trap and bring in the raccoon ourselves.

For the past hour or so, Rich and I have been rigging up an elaborate system to hoist up the raccoon the next time it comes to visit. We spread a tarp on the ground, tied ropes to the grommets, threaded them through a pulley, which is tied to a ladder that is balanced on another ladder. The other end of the rope is snaked along the deck and into the house.

When it gets dark outside, we’ll put a bowl of food in the middle of the tarp and periodically check to see if the raccoons are eating. If the injured raccoon shows up, we’re hoping to hoist up the tarp then lower the raccoon into a tall box.

We’ll then take the raccoon to the rehabilitation center where they’ll most likely euthanized it. If a miracle occurs. the raccoon will simply have broken legs and could be rehabilitated. We’re both heartbroken, but feel the most humane thing to do is to capture the raccoon and put it out of its misery.

Wish us luck tonight.