March 23, 2021

Missing Raccoon, Anyone?


Missing Raccoon, Anyone?
While raccoons are very cute, cats tend to be a little more owner-friendly. Moritz Kindler | unsplash.com

Authorities in Nizhny Novgorod made an effort to ensure that a stray raccoon was safely reunited with its adoptive human family instead of being left out in the cold.

The animal was found wandering around the courtyard of an apartment complex when local rescue authorities were called to recover the animal and return it to its owners.

That might seem like a lot of work for something most of us would consider a pest.

While in America a raccoon would be looked at with little more than perhaps some passive interest or fear (depending on your personality), raccoons have become increasingly popular as domestic pets in Russia; after all, they're pretty cute. There was even a 2016 festival in St. Petersburg purely to honor the little critters. 

While keeping wild animals as pets isn't entirely unheard of, as far as Russia goes, raccoons seem to be an unusual choice, given that the breed isn't native to Europe. 

All the same, the runaway trash panda was fed a healthy diet of little pies and apples before its owner came to retrieve it. Sounds like a happy ending for all! 

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This is the work that made Chekhov, launching his career as a writer and playwright of national and international renown. Retranslated and updated, this new bilingual edition is a super way to improve your Russian.

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The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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