BC SPCA urges compassion after orphaned raccoon babies discovered on Vancouver Island

The BC SPCA is asking people to think twice before trapping wild animals. This message comes as staff work to rehabilitate four raccoon kits that were left to fend for themselves on Vancouver Island.

The babies were brought to the SPCA’s Wild ARC facility in Metchosin near the end of April.

When brought to the facility, the kits were so young that their eyes and ears were still closed. This suggests they were only about a week old and far too young to be without their mother.

It’s unclear what happened to their mother, but the SPCA thinks she might have been trapped and relocated, or killed.

Staff say this often happens with trapping, especially in the spring when new babies are being born.

To give animals the best chance of survival when wanting to remove them from an area, wild animal welfare specialist Erin Ryan with Wild ARC says, "What we encourage is exclusion and hiring 'animal kind' accredited companies."

"These companies make sure that the animals are given opportunity to leave and not get back in, and that mom is able to collect her babies and move them to an alternate den site, so the whole family gets to move along on their own terms," said Ryan.

The kits were brought to the Wild ARC in good health. They will spend six months getting specialized care while learning how to climb, forage, and socialize before they are released back into the wild.