The Derecho that struck the Midwest on August 10th, brought hurricane force winds of up to 140-miles per hour to parts of Iowa, caused millions of dollars in property damage, and a loss of at least 43-percent of the State’s corn and soybean crop. It also disrupted lives by knocking out power to more than 200-thousand homes and business. As of this (Friday) morning, approximately 14,500 power customers remained in the dark, with the bulk of those (over 12,000) residing in eastern Iowa’s Linn County.

“Zorro,” the baby raccoon. Photo courtesy Dr. Alan Farnsworth, DVM,

The major wind event was not kind to animals, either. In Adair, Veterinarian, Dr. Alan Farnsworth, found a female baby raccoon that he is nursing back to health. The Vet says he found the little critter the afternoon of August 15th.

Farnsworth gave the female raccoon subcutaneous fluids, which perked her up. He then began feeding her with a kitten milk replacer out of a little pet nursing bottle.

Doc Farnsworth says she’s drinking about 25-cc’s of milk replacer four-times each day. The goal, he says, is to eventually release “Zorro,” as he calls her, back into the wild in less than two months. She currently resides in a cage at his veterinary office in Adair, and is frequently visited by people who bring their animals in for care, or who just wanted to take a peek at the guest bandit.

Farnsworth said distemper and parvo-virus are the most common-type of maladies that affect raccoons in the wild. He says if you find a young raccoon in the wild, it’s best to leave it alone, because the mother will often come back for them. But this case was different.

Because raccoons are social creatures among their own kind, Farnsworth brought her a little stuffed animal she enjoys holding. The Vet says he’s trying hard not to become attached to her, because he knows she has to leave eventually.

Farnsworth has served the area as a Veterinarian for the past 43-years.