When a homeowner in Belchertown, Massachusetts, stepped outside after a powerful rainstorm last week, they were not expecting to find a tiny soul in desperate need of help.
Curled up in the grass, drenched from head to tail, was a baby raccoon — so small, so skinny, and so visibly frightened that the sight stopped the homeowner in their tracks. It was clear: this little one wouldn’t survive the day on his own.
Without wasting a moment, they grabbed the phone and called local animal control officer Sarah Byrnes. What happened next is both heartbreaking and hopeful.
“The little baby was cold and wet from the rain storm we had [the night before],” Byrnes told The Dodo. “As soon as I saw him, my heart broke. He was drenched and looked so scared. He was definitely too young to be on his own.”
Byrnes carefully approached the shivering raccoon, capturing the moment on video. Her voice, calm and reassuring, was the first comfort this baby had likely felt in hours.
She gently wrapped him in a towel and placed him in a crate to warm up. Then came the search for his mother — but no other raccoons were in sight. The baby was truly alone.
Unsure of the next steps, Byrnes reached out to the Leyden Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and got in touch with its founder, Amelie Dricut-Ziter.
“I called the Leyden Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation for advice,” Byrnes said. “[Founder Amelie Dricut-Ziter] advised me to bring the baby to her.”
Though cold, wet, and suffering from the early signs of hypothermia, the baby raccoon miraculously showed no major injuries. He was quickly put into quarantine for close monitoring — and things began to look up.
“He’s doing fine,” Dricut-Ziter told The Dodo. “He’s eating, drinking and being a raccoon.”
At just over two months old, this little guy, now named Bud, isn’t quite ready for life in the wild. But with expert care and a warm place to heal, he’s now on the road to recovery.
Eventually, he’ll join nearly two dozen other rescued baby raccoons at the Leyden Center — all of them preparing for the day they’ll return to their rightful home in the wild.