More about Oscar

So, to cut a long story short, Oscar totally thrived under my care, and grew to become a very healthy, glossy coated, happy little raccoon, while I became very much his adopted Mother.  I would let him out of his cage every morning so he could run around and play, always hoping that he would find his brothers and sisters in the woods.  I had decided to keep him locked in his cage at night while he was very young, for his own protection.

Oscar followed me everywhere I went, and played happily in the yard while I planted and weeded.  His climbing skills had developed remarkably, and he had become a proficient climber.  I discovered his love of water, and often filled a bowl or the garbage can lid with water placing it somewhere in the garden for him to discover, then he would play like a small child, running and jumping in it, splashing around, thoroughly soaking himself, then run dripping everywhere to climb on my back soaking me and pull my ponytail. 

I sadly realized that I could not keep Oscar indefinitely as a pet, he was very much a wild animal, and often demonstrated his aggression with anyone outside my family, with us he was loving and very tame, but with strangers he was cautious, aggressive and spiteful.

I tried to interest zoo's, and even local petting farms, but no one was interested.  I became quite concerned about his future, we had our house on the market and were planning to move onto our boat in the Caribbean, Oscar would definitely not find a suitable home with us there. I had no idea what I could do with him.

At 6 months old, I started leaving his cage door open at night, hoping this would encourage him to develop his night skills and gradually revert back to the wild.  During the first couple of weeks of letting Oscar out at night, I had many sleepless nights worrying about his safety, and whether I was doing the right thing,  but no one could give me any advise, or tell me how or what I should be doing, so I just went on what I thought would be right, and kept my fingers crossed. 

After a couple of months of his night-time freedom, Oscar would often not be in the barn on a morning when I went up, but as soon as I called him he would quickly appear, scampering excitedly from the woods to climb up onto my shoulder and nibble at my ponytail.

Obviously he was starting to explore his territory a little more, and familiarize himself with his natural surroundings and other wild creatures, but he was still very attached to me, and continued to follow me everywhere.  He would climb around inside the garage and get up into the engines of the cars which really worried me.  We had to start putting all the cars in the garage at night and locking it, for fear of Oscar curling up asleep inside one of the engines without us knowing he was there.

When Oscar was about 10 months old, we had to go away for a weekend, and I was worried about leaving him alone, he was completely free of his cage now, but usually stayed relatively close to the barn, I was still feeding him once a day,  really just to check that he was OK, but otherwise he was totally on his own.

I asked my neighbor if she would come and check on him while I was away, but  I couldn't help worrying about him the entire weekend I was gone. I had a bad feeling about leaving him, it was almost as if I knew something was about to happen.

I couldn't wait to get home after the trip, and immediately went out to the barn to check on Oscar.    My friend said that when she had called at the barn to check on him the first day after I left he had come out, but hissed aggressively at her, and then ran back into the woods, she went back for the next 2 days but didn't see him again.

When I arrived home after the weekend, I searched the woods, every day for a week, but I never saw Oscar again.  We moved a month later...