Stealthy Raccoon In Peoria IL Shows Why They’re Trash Pandas

I’ve been working on my photography during our travels. I love that each picture can tell a story. It’s something I’ve always enjoyed, but now that I have more time to devote to it, I’ve learned so many new things and don’t want to be without my camera.

I’ve missed a few good opportunities. Sunsets, beavers, deer… I’ve missed out on some great shots. But I bring it along and try not get discouraged when my photos aren’t quite what they could be. The photography gods saw fit to bless my patience in Peoria, IL.

We were on Grand View Drive and I thought I’d be able to get a few practice shots with my new lens. I got my first “real” lens that didn’t come with the camera. Nothing makes you feel official in photography like having to change lenses. I had my 50mm on and saw an adorable chipmunk. He wasn’t close enough to get great pictures with the portrait lens so I switched back to my 35-85mm. This turned out to be a great choice.

We walked over the crest of a hill and saw some folks having lunch. Then hubs whispers… “There’s a raccoon.”

I froze. Then I slowly and carefully walked forward and around so I could see… him? her? I’m going with him – but we do have a story about a girl who we affectionately call June the Raccoon.

*Side Story* We had a raccoon living in our chimney before we moved and started this 5 year 50 state road trip. I was concerned she couldn’t get out so our friend, Josh, came over to help us. We didn’t have a lot of raccoon experiences to work from. All I had was pepperoni and a worry for June’s health and safety.

Mainly we wanted to find whether or not she was trapped or just living in the chimney because I couldn’t think of having a starving raccoon slowly dying in our house. Josh climbed on the roof and could see her down the chimney. I was first concerned about hydration, so we fashioned a watering can with water and a pulley to get the water to Josh. He then sprinkled the water on her which motivated her up the chimney.

Then I sent up the pepperoni. Josh dropped them toward her… they landed on her head. So now we have a wet raccoon, 3/4 of the way up our chimney, who has pepperoni on her head. Yup. Take a minute to picture that.

Then picture the little raccoons she had at the base of the chimney. We did a little more research once Josh came down. It’s common for raccoons to climb into chimneys to have their babies and keep them safe. A few nights later we heard them all scurry out and move along.

So now that you know the story of June the Raccoon, you can see why I have to call this raccoon a different name and my overwhelming, if not sometimes slightly misguided, attempts at keeping them safe and happy.

I positioned myself to the side so I could have a good view, from a safe and non-threatening distance, of him and the the focus of his attention… the trashcan.

Here is his adventure.

This was so worth it. Watching it from start to finish, not included here are the 80+ pictures of him deliberating… towards the can, back to the edges, towards the can *continue for 10 minutes* just to capture these 9 images of him was so entertaining. And really, who doesn’t love Culver’s?

Each of these pictures tell a small story, but all together, they tell the hilarious story of how raccoons get their nickname of ‘trash panda’.