 SUSY BELLRINGER RACOON
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interesting woman. Her name was Eleanor Dater.
She knew so much about birds and wild life that
she had her own column, "Nature Notes", in her
husband's newspaper, The Home and Store News. She
often came into the shop where I worked and always
had a new story to tell. Oh, how I looked forward
to her visits and reading her column.
She told me how she had taught one of her racoon
friends 'Lady' to ring a bell to let her know she
was available for food! First, she rang a bell
from her back porch when Lady was eating the treats
she had placed under her big shade tree. Eventually
she associated the ringing of the bell with food.
You know, like when your cat come running everytime
he or she hears the can opener running! Then Miss
Eleanor tied the bell to a branch that hung over
the feeding spot, and soon 'Lady' figured out how
to make the bell ring by swatting it with her paw!
The other coons learned by watching Lady, who
Miss Eleanor re-named 'Susy Bell Ringer'!
Her son, Tom, was nice enough to send me some of
her columns. This is the story about Susy Bell
Ringer as it appeared in the February 11th 1970
issue of the Home and Store News, written in
Eleanors own words. I have added my own
illustrations. I know she is smiling down from
heaven (with Susy Bell Ringer sitting on her lap)
knowing that her woderful stories are being shared
once again!
"Susy Bell Ringer died Saturday morning, February
7, outside the entrance to her living quarters
under the porch. I found her ailing and looking
sick about eight o'clock.
I made her a dish of scrambled eggs, gave her a
spongecake, her favorite marsmallows and, most
importiant, a pan of water. I watched her from the
bay window for the next two hours.
She pulled the eggs and the cake into her house and
then came out and immediately went to a bank of
snow ice, opened her jaws a tiny bit and tried to
melt the snow for a drink and cool her very hot
body. At first she didn't see the pan of water.
Her eyes were not functioning properly.
Suddenly, she found the water, and actually put her
whole head in and tried to drink, but wasn't too
successful. She then put her paws in and then her
hind feet. She put a marshmallow to soak and tried
to eat it.
Finally, she attempted to lie in the water, but the
pan was too small, so she laid down besides it and
in a few minutes, she stopped breathing.
Suzy came to us seven years ago (she was in her
eighth year) along with her brother as tiny cubs.
Patrolman Banta and his brother, then young boys,
found them in their back yard. The cubs mother had
been killed on the railroad tracks. From then on
it was a struggle for exhistance, with lots of
help from us.
Coons are like human babies, they like a warm
canned baby formula fed to them via a plastic
nursing bottle with a regular nipple. They enjoy
a small amount at a time at frequent intervals.
They like a warm basket or box for a home. It
should be lined with papertowles over an old
newspaper.
When the cubs are strong enough to survive on
their own, they are sent back into the wild. It
is always sad to see them go.
Susy has been a true, constant and friendly pet.
She has lived outside in the wild, coming here
each day for her food.
She had several families. Last year she had none.
She always brought her cubs to be fed and tried to
teach them to be friendly by setting a good
example.
I could pet her any time. She always foundled my
hand when I fed her marshmallows, as though to say
"thank you".
Last year she acquired the bell ringing habit to
let me know that she and her friends were available
for more food no matter what time of the night it
was. She was always the demanding one!
