On Friday, a West Seattle family will learn whether their pet raccoon will be allowed to come home after the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife seized her last November.
Right now, she lives at Center Valley Animal Rescue (CVAR) in Quilcene.
It's a big difference from her own backyard pond in West Seattle, where her family walked her on a leash, built her a hammock and snuggled with her daily on the couch.
"Shes in a parking lot cage right now. It's pretty stressful to see her like that," Chris Greer said.
Chris and his wife, Kelly, have raised Mae for seven years, ever since she was a newborn. They say her mom was killed at a nearby park and no wildlife rehab would take her. They didn't want her euthanized.
The Greers say they did find a rehab on Vashon Island that said they could care for Mae at home under their wildlife permit, but when that facility closed, the permit went with it.
In Washington, it's illegal to keep a raccoon as a pet.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says Mae should stay at her wildlife rehab and should not come back to Seattle. They call her a danger to humans and say Mae was so fat, she could have had liver problems. They're also concerned it may lead more people to take raccoons home.
But recently released court documents show Mae's transition hasn't been so smooth. The CVAR director says Mae tries to attack her and their other raccoon, Miss Kitty. She asks WDFW if perhaps Mae can be released back to the wild, adding, "This is turning into a mess with Mae, the raccoon."
"They came into our home and abducted our daughter. So, if she's stressed and attacking somebody, well I'd be stressed too if I was ripped out of my home," Chris said.
The Greers say they never hid Mae. They even have a picture of Mae with a Seattle police officer. No one cared until they ran into a Department of Fish and Wildlife officer while camping last year.
"In our eyes, the right thing to do is to let her come home. We're willing to follow their rules and do what they want to have her at our house. We're her family. We're all she's known," Kelly said.
"Really we want what's best for her and we don't believe where she is in the parking lot cage is a good place for her," Chris said.
A petition to bring Mae home already has close to 4,500 signatures and the Greers won't give up hope until the state gives up Mae.
