PARKERSBURG - Shirley Davis was walking her dog about a month ago when she discovered something strange in the dumpster about a block from her house.
"There were seven baby raccoons looking up at me," she said Wednesday.
Davis quickly called the state Division of Natural Resources, which told her to get in touch with the owner of the dumpster on 29th Street. She said she called the city of Parkersburg and officials told her they would send someone to check on the raccoons.
"I started worrying about them because it was going to be about 105 degrees that day," Davis said.
In the meantime, Davis remembered what she was told by the representative at the DNR. The person told her by placing a board in a way the animals can climb it, may help them to escape from the dumpster.
That's exactly what she did.
"We found a board in our building out back and took it over," Davis said. "They just climbed out."
Davis said she and her husband, Frank, have not seen the animals in the past few weeks but were watching out for them periodically for the last month.
When the couple would discover the animals had made their way back into the dumpster, they placed the board in a way the raccoon babies could escape whenever they wanted to.
Davis said she doesn't know if the raccoons have ventured to a new spot or something happened to them, but they have not returned to their make-shift home for a few weeks.
The Davises left the board in front of their house in case the animals decide to return, and need saving again.
