“They get a soft release and go out on her property and live under the deck for a bit, and she’ll leave food out until they wander off and find their own way,” Robinson said. “But Little Hands remained friendly with the whole family and he was very kind and sweet with us.”
“[My mom] has a porch swing where she sits outside, and he would come up and literally crawl onto the swing and sit beside her and just want his butt and chin scratched,” Robinson said. “He wanted his snuggles, then he’d have his food and wander off.”
For three years, Little Hands has lived in the wild independently — but continues to return to the house where he was raised just to snuggle with his mom
Since Little Hands left the house, Linda has taken in numerous orphaned and abandoned raccoon babies who have nowhere else to go.
And each year, the raccoons she releases into the wild continue coming back for occasional visits.
“Every day, she sits outside and waits, and even when they’re grown up, they’ll visit her and she just lights up and she just loves it,” Robinson said. “They love her, too — she’s just Mom.”
Because of Linda, the little raccoons are able to live out their lives in the wild, but just like her human children, they know they can always come home to Mom for a snack and a hug.