Vigilant Parent

Vigilant parent was borne out of three separate images. I was visiting my sister Heather in Lucknow, Ontario which is surrounded by dairy farms. While taking a stroll down a country road, near her home, we noticed three baby raccoons sauntering across the adjacent pasture. It was obvious that they were orphaned, which is understandable, considering dairy farmers grow corn for cattle feed and raccoons love corn but farmers don't love raccoons. We knew that their days were also numbered in this raccoon hostile community of shotguns and hounds. We helped them to a nearby maple tree and left them be; this was probably their best hope for survival. You could not help feeling terrible about their circumstances and it bothered me.     Later that summer I was visiting the Winnipeg zoo and snaped some great photos of an adult raccoon. When I returned home to my studio, I searched my files for the most suitable wilderness photo I could find, for a setting which looked natural with a family of raccoons. The perfect match was the one I used. I had taken it a year earlier on the LaCloche mountains, overlooking Landsdowne channel at little snug harbour. It bothered me to think that these innocent little creatures had already realized their fate, especially because they had no protective help from a parent. I didn't want their short, prescious lives to be in vain so I decided to do this print in their memory. They are now immortalized with the vigilant parent, they need, to watch over them for eternity. This image also allows them to be cherished by raccoon lovers everywhere. I feel a little better now.

13" X 18 1/2"

800 80 80 open

$115.ea. $165.ea. N/A $215.ea.

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