“What we are trying to do now, is get the bill from 1995 made law,” said Lewis Bennett, one of Sly’s owners.
That proposed legislation, if approved, would allow for individuals to own raccoons provided the animals received regular vaccinations for rabies and distemper.
To that end, they are seeking at least 500 signatures on a petition that is available on Facebook by searching for “Sly Cooperette.”
Raccoons are a prime carrier of rabies in North Carolina and are illegal to own or keep as pets. However, owning a raccoon is not illegal in all states.
On Monday the seven-month old raccoon was confiscated from the home of Dana Shook and Bennett by wildlife enforcement agents along with representatives from Moore County Animal Control and the Moore County Sheriff’s office. The animal was euthanized and tested for rabies.
Shook and Bennett called the situation a travesty. They said their raccoon had not been mistreated and had been properly vaccinated and was not a health risk.
“I literally felt like I lost my daughter, and I let them take her,” Bennett said.
Bennett said he and Shook had both been actively seeking a new home for Sly, and that they had just made contact with a South Carolina rescue organization that was willing to drive to North Carolina and pick up the animal.
“Had we had another day or two, she wouldn’t have been at our home,” Bennett said.
Lt. Sam Craft with the state’s Wildlife Resource Commission said his organization had been aware of the raccoon for “at least a week” before officials obtained a warrant and went looking for the raccoon.
“In my 15 years, this in one of the most extensive amounts of time someone has had a wild animal in their home,” Craft said.
Craft said Wildlife officials were made aware of the raccoon from representatives of Moore County Animal Operations.
When asked how her office learned of the raccoon, Brenda Sears, director of animal operations said it wasn’t hard.
“The raccoon had its own Facebook page,” she said. “They weren’t making any secret about it.”
Sly’s owners said they had had the raccoon since it was a baby after rescuing it from a open land near a home in Pinehurst. At the time, the animal was a week old.
“It fit in the palm of my hand,” Shook said. “Its eyes weren’t even open.”
Shook and Bennett then took into their home what they thought to be a male raccoon and bottle-fed the animal. Seeking to care for it and have it vaccinated, the couple began researching exotic animal veterinarians online and found Dr. Matthew Stone at Myrtle Beach Animal Hospital in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
They took the animal to the clinic at least four times, Shook said, and Dr. Stone, according to clinic officials and veterinarian records, administered a rabies vaccination to Sly.
Also during an online search, Shook said she found a copy of the proposed bill that allow ownership of raccoons.
“We thought everything we were doing was legal,” Shook said.
Stone has left the practice, but records of all the vaccines confirmed by staff there and copies of the records were transmitted digitally to Shook and Bennett.
Stone now owns his own practice in Myrtle Beach. Messages left with him to speak about Sly were not immediately returned.
Dr. Maria Palamar, a veterinarian with the North Carolina Wildlife Commission, said there is no current approved vaccination for raccoons or other wildlife animals in the United States that can be administered by a veterinarian.
“Most likely, it was a pet vaccine, and we don’t know how well it protected the animal,” Palamar said.
“Because the animal was in contact with so many people, our only option was to test it (for rabies),” Palamar said.
The only test for rabies is to examine the animal’s brain, which requires the animal to be euthanized and its head removed from the body.
Palamar said she expected the results of the rabies tests on Sly to be back Thursday or Friday.
Wildlife officials say they understand that Sly was deemed a beloved pet by its owners, but the bottom line is that wild animals are not meant to be domesticated.
“When you bring a wild animal into your home, you bring in a whole host of pathogens and a whole host of issues, not just rabies,” Palamar said.
Possession of a wild animal is a misdemeanor. Wildlife officials said they have not charged Sly’s owners and don’t plan to do so.
(The Pilot - Dec 1, 2015)
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