Shelter takes in furless raccoon
HALIFAX • A rare bald raccoon is in the care of a Nova Scotia shelter, where staff hope she’ll grow her fur coat — including a bandit-like, black streak across her eyes.
Hope Swinimer, the director of Hope for Wildlife, says the furless mammal has been named Rufus after a naked, squeaky mole-rat character in the children’s television show Kim Possible.
It turned out after closer examination Rufus is female, but the name has remained as the pink-hued raccoon is proving to have an entertaining character in keeping with her cartoon namesake.
A couple in West Arichat discovered the shivering, three-kilogram female in their backyard last week and brought her to a Cape Breton veterinary clinic, where she received fluids before being sent to the wildlife shelter in Seaforth, N.S.
Swinimer says skin tests have determined Rufus’s lack of fur — a condition she refers to as alopecia — may be a genetic condition rather than the result of parasites or other causes.
The shelter director says that with good food and living conditions, the hope is for Rufus to gradually grow back her fur and be released back into the wild.
If that proves impossible, however, she says the shelter may provide Rufus with an enclosed, outdoor habitat with her own hut.
In the meantime, the raccoon has gone from being “down and out upon arrival” to showing her dexterity by carefully removing plastic duct covers and scurrying through the ductwork in the building.
“We were panicking for a few short hours ... but she got hungry and came out. She’s getting quite feisty and we’ve seen a big improvement since she first arrived,” said the shelter director.
Swinimer has been providing care to injured or ailing wildlife for over 30 years and says while she’s seen earlier cases of alopecia in raccoons, Rufus is the most extreme example.
She said in the past when raccoons have lacked hair, they at least had their distinctive facial patterns across the eyes, but Rufus is even bald in that area.
“It’s just tufts of fur around the snout, ankles and feet. This is a severe case,” said Swinimer.
The case highlights the crucial nature of fur and feathers to wild animals, she explained.
“If they don’t have that nice fur coat, they won’t survive. If compromised, they’ll succumb to frostbite.”
Several of the animals that have become permanent residents of the shelter, which currently has 250 occupants, have had special habitats created for them.