A Trio of Orphaned Baby Raccoons Adopt a Visiting Bearded Fisherman as Their Mother

While traveling through the United States, Tanzanian photographer Dominyk Lever stopped off to do a little fishing at Apple Creek in Wooster, Ohio, when he was surprised to find a trio of baby raccoons clamoring to climb his leg and then positioning themselves onto his shoulders to clean him. It appears that Lever’s bearded visage might have fooled the young procyonids into thinking that the visiting fisherman was one of their own. At first Lever thought that their mother was somewhere nearby, but later found out that the raccoons were orphaned. Luckily, another fisherman named Chuck is keeping an eye on the trio in Lever’s absence.

Three baby raccoons befriend a fisherman at a creek in Wooster, Ohio. The extremely playful critters crawled on top of the man and followed him around. Encounters between wild raccoons and humans are common throughout the United States, but what makes this scene heartbreaking is the possibility that baby raccoons are orphans. A second fisherman who came upon the scene not only fed the raccoons a dead fish, but built them a shelter near where they were found.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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