Mama raccoon and babies made a home in Home Depot. Colorado rescuers needed a forklift
A raccoon family made its home at a Home Depot garden department, and it took a forklift to safely relocate them, according to Colorado wildlife officials.
The mom and her four babies were found Friday, June 2, in the Durango store, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife — Southwest Region said in a series of tweets.
“The babies were tucked away inside some cinder blocks, and mom was hiding under pallets during the busy shopping day,” officials said.
Then came “wildlife officers and a forklift,” the department said.
Wildlife officials said they safely grabbed the babies when they wandered “around in a stack of fence posts” and placed them in a kennel.
Mama raccoon, however, was a “bit trickier to catch.”
Officials said they used a “forklift to move some pallets away” and a catch pole to lift her from her hiding spot.
“We assure you, she was not harmed in this process,” officials said.
She was reunited with her babies in the kennel before they were taken “a little bit south in Durango for their release into (a) much more suitable habitat,” the department said.
While the mom ran from the kennel, the baby raccoons needed some help from rescuers to reach their mom, officials said.
Durango is about 340 miles southwest of Denver.
This story was originally published June 7, 2023 at 3:00 PM with the headline "Mama raccoon and babies made a home in Home Depot. Colorado rescuers needed a forklift."
