vBy Aimee Huntley
Jet Yaggie and Claudio
A Raccoon In the Family
When cruising down the residential streets of Yankton, it’s
common to see lots of walkers with their family, friends, and furry
canines enjoying nice weather. But it’s not often that the one in the
lead, at the end of a leash, is a raccoon. Imagine my surprise when
what I thought at first was a small cat, was actually a baby raccoon,
walking happily along with Jet Yaggie on all fours! I stopped my van,
rolled down the window, and yelled out, “Hey girl, can I meet your
raccoon?!” This was an experience that made my morning. Jet was
very patient, and helpful. She waited while I parked my vehicle and
walked over to join them on the sidewalk. Claudio, the raccoon, was
only a few weeks old at the time. He’d been born in a grain combine
at the John Deere dealership lot on Hwy 50 and abandoned with
some littermates. The typical spring litter can be anywhere from two
to five kits, but Claudio wound up being the only one left to be taken
in by the Yaggies.
Jet revealed that Claudio wasn’t the first raccoon that the family
had taken in. They’d had previous foster attempts with three others
before, but unfortunately they didn’t live very long. The Yaggie
family has always been very pro-animal. Besides Claudio, they
currently have Carmel; the cat, three geckos, a box turtle, and Jet’s
chicken named Eminem, after the rapper. Jet’s dad, Jason Yaggie, has
also prior experience with having a pet raccoon from growing up on
a farm just outside Mission Hill, SD. That raccoon lived outside on
the property though, while Claudio prefers to stay mainly inside the
house. Jason said that by the time that raccoon was a year old it had
gradually stayed away for longer and longer periods of time, with
less frequent visits back at the property, until it stayed in the woods
for good.
When Claudio arrived, the Yaggies raced to get kitten
replacement milk to bottle feed him. They didn’t have a regular
feeding schedule, but instead paid attention to the tiny raccoon’s
hunger. They did a good job and he soon gained weight, grew, and
was eating dry cat food in no time. Like many raccoons in proximity
to humans, Claudio likes to supplement his diet with people food
whenever he can. He loves marshmallows, Twinkies, strawberries
and watermelon. Jason says he seems to prefer pork over any other
meat, and will devour pork chops and ham. Jet recently discovered
that Claudio enjoys her gecko’s snack too, which is a basically bugbased treat. Both Claudio and the cat compete for ice cubes and
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