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Where We Left Off:
The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency dealt with a case that required not only solving the mystery but a lot of compassion.
Fox News (Not That One):
Oliver Winchester, Burton Guster Nabu, and the human biographer (me) have been monitoring the raccoons since the summer because of the Bunny Hollow Mayoral election. Gary Trashmouth, a raccoon, was one of the candidates. The spring season brought one set of kits (a litter of babies) as expected to a happy mom, Big Baby Pudding-Snatcher. Based on our surveillance footage, those kits seemed to grow well though still a bit smaller than their mom.
We enjoyed a decent amount of photos and videos of the baby raccoons following their mother around the yard like a family of tribbles. What if we had gotten a population of actual tribbles? I was excited. That would be extraordinary news!
“Human, those weren’t tribbles,” Oliver reprimanded as I reviewed my notes with him.
“Nah,” Gus interjected. “Tribbles are more dog-like in appearance without arched backs like raccoons.”
“Thank you, Gus.” I continued reading them my notes and marking which video clips they wanted in our summary footage. As if I don’t know what tribbles look like.
During the time of fuzzy baby raccoon visits, we were able to add another camera. This gave an important new perspective. The previous main camera points at the path to the woods. Often, the animals are only seen walking this path. Occasionally, we’d get some varied material like when we got the vital footage of fox, Joe Vulpesci, bringing his dinner and allowing (or hoping no one would be there) a raccoon, Hans Grabber, to take the leftovers. We covered this in Case File No. 13-377.
Speaking of the fox called Joe Vulpesci, there were growing tensions between some of the animals like the foxes with certain raccoons. There are also both male and female deer who have issues with certain raccoons; it’s clear that they ignore others.
The Breakdown
Besides the fox called Joe Vulpesci and the raccoon in the case previously noted, there was also El Diablo vs. Vivica B. Fox in Case File No. 22-386 which also includes video footage. El Diablo is the largest and oldest of the raccoons from what we know. There’s plenty to read and watch over in that entry. One of the noteworthy findings in that case is that Vivica has an injured right ear from a previous fight.
Like the stray cats, the foxes find our area to be a great source of food. We have the larger grey squirrels, tiny red squirrels, chipmunks, voles, moles, shrews, and mice. From what Ollie and Gus have been able to deduce, that’s not all that’s on the menu.
Big Baby Pudding-snatcher was routinely followed by her three children. Then we noticed there was only one. At first, we thought it was a different raccoon mother, but that’s not what the footage suggests. We believe two of her children were picked for food, but which fox did it—if it was a fox at all? Joe Vulpesci, Vivica B. Fox, Zorro (the fox who murdered Lokai), or someone else like a large hawk? Could they have been stomped by angry doe mother or a raging rutting buck?
While Gus and Oliver napped, I listened to a marathon of the Women & Crime podcast and sifted through months of footage seeing which other critters and beasts had interactions with the raccoons.
Now is a good time to give what little information we know about the Pudding-Snatcher’s surviving child. Her name is Diamond Doris, but just Doris works fine. She’s been carefully observing all the other animals and learning their tricks for surviving like how to walk around without garnering attention and a powerful ability to take food while a competitor is distracted.
Surveillance of Raccoon Behavior Leads to Evidence
Sometimes the raccoons are hypervigilant. Once in a while, they’re reasonably content and let their guard down. Certain raccoons chase other animals. While other raccoons are the ones being chased. This is how we ended up noticing the key video clip where Joe Vulpesci chased a large raccoon!
Case Findings:
We had evidence of: Vivica B. Fox being hunted by El Diablo; Deerdra the protective mother doe warning off Hans Grabber from coming near her fawn yet ignores Little King Trashmouth. Ambivalence between the raccoons and the bunny known as Rabbit Maranville; Zorro, who will do whatever it takes to survive; and fear in the eyes and wiggles of the opossum and private investigator, Veronica Marsupial, when El Diablo was looking for food.
Ollie, Gus and I discussed the evidence and theories. We even sought out the opinions of our network. The suspect who was named at the top most frequently was a Hawk! An accomplice was named as well. It’s Joe Vulpesci, the fox. I wonder it it’s like veal because the victims were babies. I’m relieved it wasn’t a car accident although those do also provide food for scavengers; the issue I read about recently, is that roadkill often presents its own dangers because it causes the scavengers to risk their lives and those of drivers swerving out of the way.
Case Status: Closed