To Protect and Serve

An Arizona man has been arrested for keeping a raccoon he rescued and adopting him as a pet. I don't use names, so I'll just say, this guy risked his own life by jumping into the Colorado (naming rivers is okay) to save a drowning raccoon. He nurses the animal for a while and the raccoon, Sonny (can use raccoons names, also) hangs around, much like the cat I took in 15 years ago from a tree. It seems you can keep a raccoon as a pet in Arizona, but you must first obtain an "exotic animal license."
This guy, Sonny's hero, checked online for rules about befriending a raccoon and didn't see the clause requiring the license. One day, while walking with Sonny on his shoulder, a neighbor called Arizona Game and Fish - the site where you can learn that raccoons are the one animal that can be killed with a firearm at night. I should be careful divulging that kind of information in this gun happy state - people might start using it as a defense - I thought my husband was a raccoon rummaging though our trash - well it was dark and he was wearing a furry housecoat. Of course, the law implies that you have to shoot the raccoon, not beat them to death with the firearm, so, people be forewarned.
Raccoons typically live about 15 years, similar to domesticated cats and dogs. Had Sonny been rescued and set into the wild and been picked up by Game and Fish or the Himane Society, he most likely would be put to death. To date, Sonny and his adoptive guardian are both behind bars now. I'm sure the neighbor who called it in feels safer now knowing that someone who lives nearby who would sacrifice his own safety to rescue an animal he didn't know is locked up. Is the world really a safer place with this guy incarcerated? I think not. But, I have to admit, if I see that tattling neighbor drowning, I would jump in to save them, but I would then set them free to roam the wilderness and not bring them into my warm, cozy home.

Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .