A retired Canadian mountie has actually called himself the ‘raccoon whisperer’ after investing the last 20 years feeding swarms of his forest buddies every night.
James Blackwood has actually ended up being rather of a YouTube experience given that he began submitting videos of himself feeding raccoons on his house deck in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
But it is Mr Blackwood’s latest clip that has actually stunned and impressed social networks audiences throughout the world after it was submitted to Twitter, revealing him feeding hotdogs to around 25 raccoons.
The furry mammals are generally thought about hazardous to have on personal land as they are providers of rabies and other major illness, putting families with animals especially at danger. They can likewise be aggressive when approached by people.
Yet, Mr Blackwood appears totally at ease with the nursery of raccoons as they swarm around his legs and crawl on his shoulders and arms to catch a piece of sausage.
Almost all patiently wait their rely on be handed a reward till the container is cleared dry.
The well-behaved wild animals wait as Mr Blackwood vanishes to get more, prior to he returns with what he states has to do with 3kg worth of hotdogs.
Mr Blackwood informs audiences that the raccoons are ‘super hungry’ due to the winter which they require to stockpile on food to make it through the extreme Canadian winter season ahead.
The retired officer discussed in another video that his love for the animals started in 1999, when partner Jane saved a hurt raccoon after it was struck by an automobile near their residential or commercial property.
They nursed the animal back to health and launched it into the wild, however it kept returning and ultimately brought along a cub and more furry buddies.
Mr Blackwood assured his partner prior to she passed away that he would continue to look after the raccoons.
In a 2014 video, he stated: ‘This was my wife’s task and she passed away in 2003 of cancer and pled me on her death bed to look after her raccoons and felines and her mom.’
He stated he has actually honoured his partner’s passing away dream since, and feeds them whatever from peanut butter sandwiches to crackers.
The retired Mountie began submitting videos of everyday feeding time to his YouTube channel in 2011, which now boasts more than 233,000 fans. The most current hotdog video has actually now been seen over 6 million times.
Mr Blackwood stated the raccoons reside in the forest around his residential or commercial property and every day he anticipates a check out from the starving animals trying to find deals with at around 11pm.
Official Nova Scotia standards alert versus feeding animals like raccoons and encourages to ‘keep wildlife wild’.
But for the self-proclaimed Raccoon Whisperer, it seems a little late for that.
Get in touch with our news group by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, examine our news page.
Get your need-to-know
most current news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
