PUNGO — Members of Wild Baby Raccoon Rescue arrived at property near downtown Pungo one afternoon last month. They transferred several pet carriers, each containing either opossums or raccoons, to utility terrain vehicles, and they set off along a bumpy path deep into 30 Acre Wood, led by landowner Chuck Phillips.
The animals, rescued and nursed back to health by the Virginia Beach nonprofit, poked noses and paws through openings in carriers. They weren’t contained long. After the long road to recovery — helped by rehabilitators Kelly and Chuck Plaza and others, including the group’s vice president, Katie Marson — this final, briefer journey in Pungo on Monday, Sept. 26, led home to the wild.
Wild Baby Raccoon Rescue has released dozens of animals here in an area as big as its name promises. Phillips gives all credit to the Plazas and those who work with the animals, either orphaned or hurt before rescue. He’s happy to offer this land. “There’s something nice about, when you own a bunch of land, having wildlife on it,” he said.
Phillips stopped at the first release point.
“Are you thinking of the raccoons or possums here?” Kelly Plaza asked.
“Possums,” Phillips replied.
The team lined up carriers near the woods and set out food. “We give them chicken,” Marson said. “Lots of different kinds of cat food, dog food. Hardboiled eggs.”
It’s enough for until the animals acclimate to other offerings. Not that they always need the transition. “A lot of times, the possums walk right by what we left and look for grubs,” Kelly Plaza said.
“Bye, babies,” Kelly Plaza said, watching them go. “Have a good life.”
There are about a dozen licensed wildlife rehabilitators in Virginia Beach, though some of the people listed in Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources records are couples, such as Kelly and Chuck Plaza.
In our city, licensed rehabilitators care for injured or orphaned wildlife as diverse as bats, beavers, cottontail rabbits, reptiles, songbirds and seabirds. The Plazas are licensed to care for foxes, opossums, raccoons, skunks and squirrels. There is a need in a city where people and animals overlap and sometimes collide. They are augmented by a network of nonprofits and volunteers.
A 2019 city staff report called home-based rehabilitation an in-demand service that is highly regulated by the state.
“Although city facilities are available,” the report said, “the need for this service exceeds capacity.”
“They should like it back here,” he explained. “It gets pretty dense.”
He parked and got out.
“How’s this?” he asked.
“This is nice,” Kelly Plaza said.
Again, they lined up carriers facing the trees. Food, this time, included a cereal in colors seldom found in nature.
“They love Froot Loops,” Chuck Plaza said.
“They have a sweet tooth,” Kelly Plaza said.
One of the raccoons was called Scara for wounds made to her arms by birds when she was perhaps a week old. She bore scars still, Kelly Plaza noted, months after rescue, but she was strong.
There are no certainties for the animals who are released after being nursed back to health, fed and vaccinated. Care gives them opportunities to be restored to the wild and become part of a natural system again.
“I just like to give them a better chance,” Kelly Plaza said. “If they’re too small, predators can get them.”
Released, raccoons seemed more curious than opossums. Two darted off to explore. Others ate. Scara discovered a suitable tree and climbed. She went high into the canopy, sometimes upside down beneath branches.
“To see her there in her natural habitat,” Marson said. “As much as we can provide climbing, it’s not the same. It’s great to see them where they belong.”
She and volunteer Suzi Halloran of Virginia Beach said it can be bittersweet seeing animals they have cared for go.
“But it’s a feeling of pride,” Halloran added. “They’ve come a long way.”
A kid-friendly WBRR Fun Fall Festival fundraising event starts at 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 5, at 4112 Charity Farm Court. Activities include meeting educational animals and mini-train rides. Cost is $5 per family. The rain date is Sunday, Nov. 6.
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