You can sometimes find the most adorable things in the most unexpected places.
In this case, that place happened to be a pallet of mulch inside a Home Depot warehouse. When a group of the retail company’s employees happened upon a raccoon nest in one of the pallets, they discovered three raccoon babies peacefully nestled in the middle.
The arrival of the workers spooked the mom, though, so the cute little furballs were left all alone. But these employees weren’t going to let anything happen to them so they put up the cutest “do not disturb” sign to make sure that the little raccoon babies could snuggle in peace. And with Rocket Raccoon of Guardians of the Galaxy, who could blame the employees for imagining the babies as little Rocket Raccoons in the making?
Joe, one of the employees who also shared the adorable photos of the furballs, said, “I’m not one hundred percent sure who found the nest, it was during the overnight stocking shift at the Home Depot.”
Apparently, the spot the mommy raccoon chose was ideal for her purposes. “I believe that the mother picked that spot because it was pretty much pre-made, she just had to dig a little mulch out of the center of the pallet and that was it. The pallet itself was in a spot that was not disturbed very much and under a roof so it was warm and protected,” Joe explained.
After the mom ran off, they decided to put up a sign to make sure the nest wasn’t disturbed. “When the pallet was pulled down the mother ran off, and we assumed she would come back for the babies,” Joe said. “We made the sign and roped off the pallet to keep customers out in hope mom would come back to get them.”
Unfortunately, mommy raccoon had been spooked enough to abandon the nest and her babies. “But after 3 days and no return of the mom, I decided to take the babies to the Colorado Division of Wildlife because I didn’t want them to starve.”
It turns out Joe and his colleagues are animal lovers at heart because this wasn’t the first time they helped an animal in distress. “[Some time ago,] I took a magpie chick home and nursed it back to health and set it free and I believe another co-worker raised some abandon bunnies.”