Poor Raccoon

Late afternoon today I went out to play with Satin. I was armed with my video camera so that I could capture our play session for future reference. I was walking across the pasture towards the herd of girls, filming as I walked, when suddenly I realized there was a raccoon in the view finder.
He was halfway between the 4 girls and me, just standing there very stiff. At first I thought he could have been annoyed out of his napping spot since the girls were trudging around in the woods. The landlord's dog was barking, too, so maybe he scared him out? But as minutes ticked away he remained in that same spot, in the sunshine, barely taking two or three steps. The girls finally noticed me and started approaching.
Of course now I'm concerned about rabies and Shellie, followed by Dancer, start towards the peculiar creature in their pasture. I rush over, shooing them away, still filming. (I'll add he video later)

The raccoon didn't even move or respond to the horses coming within 12 inches from him! I knew something was very wrong. I called Alachua County Animal Services right away and they said they'd dispatch some officers immediately.

As I was trying to get Dancer, Shellie, and Betsy away from the raccoon's general vicinity, Satin came out of the tree line, walked right up to the raccoon, and while I am yelling and rushing up to her she nearly touched noses! You can imagine how nervous I was that she was going to physically touch him! She finally came to me, I haltered her, and got all 4 girls to leave the pasture. I locked them out and waited for ACAS.

Shellie found a stash of mints in my brush tote in the barn and spilled the tote and the bag of mints all over the ground. She only ate about 5 pieces before I cleaned up her mess. I put the mints in the feed room and while my back was turned she knocked the brush tote over again. Curious girl!

JW spent the entire time hollering for the girls while they were out of sight playing in the barn. He was very worried and galloped across the pasture, yelling for them. The girls weren't phased. Poor JW! Tie just stood there watching JW make his pass.

After ACAS picked up the sick raccoon the girls were able to return to their pasture, much to their disappointment!

I'm glad the raccoon doesn't have to suffer any longer.