VIRGINIA BEACH – Kelly and Charles Plaza want to join the small network of wildlife rehabilitators in the area who help a species many consider a nuisance.
“We just happened to fall in love with raccoons,” Kelly Plaza said. “They’re so misunderstood. So many people hate them. But they’re extremely intelligent.”
The Plazas are state certified wildlife rehabilitators and last summer nurtured orphaned baby raccoons, unaware, they said, of a city permit requirement. They are now seeking that permit to care for the animals at their home near Nimmo Parkway and General Booth Boulevard.
Their request will go the City Council on June 21. The permit would allow the Plazas to host as many as five baby raccoons at a time and raise them for the wild, a process that can take months and cost hundreds of dollars per animal. They would get the animals from the city’s Animal Control Unit.
Virginia’s wildlife rehabilitation system puts newer state permit holders under the supervision of more experienced rehabilitators. That person for the Plazas is fellow Virginia Beach resident Mary Meyer, who said she has been rehabilitating raccoons for four or five years.
Meyer has a 29-slide presentation for public education on the animals. It covers facts about the species, their behavior, history and trivia (President Calvin Coolidge had two as pets). Ask why she devotes so much time to helping the animals and she will gush about their smarts and dexterity. They also have a place in the food chain.
“They’re incredibly intelligent, and people have not given them the respect in my opinion that they deserve,” she said.
Opposition from nearby residents can quickly derail a city permit request to rehabilitate the animals at home, according to Meyer.
“One neighbor doesn’t like raccoons and they raise hell at a meeting, you lost it,” she said.
City Staff Planner Jimmy McNamara said the Plazas’ application has received several letters of opposition. Concerns include the raccoons escaping and the possibility of causing nearby dogs to bark.
Kelly Plaza told the Planning Commission this week that most of her neighbors have been supportive, but she understood the concern about barking dogs. She said she didn’t think barking would be an issue because the pen they will use in their backyard for raccoons is secluded and hidden by foliage.
Their tasks when rehabilitating include an initial triage of the animals, providing a safe space for them to grow, feeding every two to three hours in the beginning, and eventually weaning them off human contact.
Raccoons are considered a high-risk rabies species, and the Plazas had to each receive $1,000 worth of shots to get their state rehabilitation permit. The couple is not immune to the animals’ affections, however. They enjoy releasing them into the wild, but it can be hard to say goodbye, said Charles, a sergeant for the Virginia State Police.
“It’s really hard, because you do get attached to them to some degree,” he said. “But you’re not allowed — you can’t. And when it comes time for pre-release, we have to start pulling back.”
In that pre-release time, Charles and Kelly feed the animals, change their litter box and leave the pen.
“It’s basically getting them so they’re not used to human contact,” Kelly said.
The goal is to get the raccoons back in their natural habitat as the wild animals they are, Kelly said. The couple will release them in areas away from neighborhoods and traffic. Friends of friends in Pungo have offered to have the animals released on their property. When the Plazas released the baby raccoons they helped last year, they were surprised at how good they felt for nurturing the animals and giving them a chance to thrive in the woods.
The animals can live as long as 20 years in captivity, but in the wild, they are more likely to make it just two to three years.
“Watching them in their environment, even though we know their life is short, it’s where they’re supposed to be,” Kelly said.
The Plazas will receive their state category II certifications in January, which would allow them to perform certain wildlife veterinary tasks themselves, like administering dehydration saline shots. They cover the costs from their personal finances and donations.
Michael Wauhop, a state-licensed nuisance wildlife trapper, catches muskrats, squirrels, raccoons, otters and more in Hampton Roads with ZooPro Humane Wildlife Removal. He said there are a lot of raccoons in the Virginia Beach area, but not an excessive amount; squirrels lead the way in service calls.
“I commend them for it,” Wauhop said of the Plazas in a phone interview. “It’s a lot of work and money out of their pockets. There are so many orphaned animals because their mother gets hit by a car, things of that nature. I think it’s a good idea.”
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