Cambridge girl rescues raccoon, raises it

CAMBRIDGE, Wis. --  A Cambridge girl has become fond of raccoons after she saw one sitting in the middle of a road. She saved it and has since worked to raise it throughout the summer.

To be clear, this is not legal to do. You can read about Wisconsin wildlife regulations on the DNR's website . However, Sophia Seamon says her goal is to get this furry mammal to good health.

Seamon tells News 3 Now she brought the raccoon off of the road to safety, she watched it for a while before assuming it was abandoned by it's mother. She thought it may have been injured but determined it was just dehydrated.

Afterwards she says it was on to Wal-Mart to purchase some supplies to help it out.

"I went to Wal-Mart and I get basically electrolyte water and hydrate him and then kitten replacement formula," said Seamon.

She further explains that while working to raise the young raccoon, which she believes to be about two months old, she grew fond of the creatures after despising them for most of her life.

"They would always eat our chickens and steal our chickens and I just was never I just thought they were very aggressive animals but yea I've kind of become very fond of them through this," said Seamon.

While there are possible legal implications, and plenty of warnings against taking in a wild animal, Seamon says her heart is in the right place not wanting to see anything bad happen to wildlife.

Raccoons do typically stay with their mother for about a year, but obviously Markai, as Sophia has named it, won't have that luxury. Seamon will also be heading off to college soon. Her plan is to release it back to the wild before then.

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