THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9406300197
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
It answers to the name Rocky, and it strayed into John Cunningham's life about four months ago.
At first, Cunningham, a ranger at Seashore State Park, wanted nothing to do with the hairy, 4-foot masked wanderer. Also, Rocky was messy.
Cunningham would watch as Rocky tipped over trash cans, spilling the garbage onto the ground and scavenging for food scraps. Then the creature would scurry back to a tree-trunk home in a swamp not far from Cunningham's station at the 64th Street park entrance.
Yet there was a charm about the young adult raccoon.
Cunningham began feeding the hungry, but apparently healthy, raccoon at lunchtime. Soon they were getting together regularly for cheese crackers. Before he knew it, Cunningham was spending up to 20 minutes a day munching chocolate cookies, potato chips and tortilla chips with the little beast.
Cunningham used to eat lunch alone. Now, if Rocky is late for the midday meal, he becomes concerned.
``I'm not emotionally attached,'' Cunningham said, ``but I look forward to seeing him every day. I feel very comfortable with him. He comes up and eats out of my hand, but he won't let me touch him.''
Rocky is just one in a menagerie of wild animals, birds and reptiles that Cunningham feels obligated to protect in the wooded park.
Cunningham is a seasonal public contact ranger, which means his main job is to interact with people, greeting visitors and providing park information.
But, said the 32-year-old Great Neck Manor resident, ``I feel I'm out here more to protect the animals than I am to protect the people. I definitely talk to the animals, especially Rocky.''
Passive animals like Rocky may be in more danger than other animals of being hit by a car or injured by cruel pranksters.
``We have a lot of wildlife at Seashore,'' said Cunningham, ``but one of the problems is that Seashore is surrounded by a lot of development.''
Cunningham knows it is against park rules to feed the animals but makes an exception because Rocky seems to be ``half-domesticated.''
Although rabid raccoons have turned up in the city's southern sections, none has been found in the park, Cunningham said. Still, he urged residents to stay away from wild animals.
Although he has no special training, Cunningham gained knowledge about animals and their behavior through his work. And he is familiar with the outward signs of a rabid animal.
For an animal lover like Cunningham, going to work is like going to the zoo or to the mountains. In the past several decades, nearly every animal group in the park has experienced burgeoning populations.
Brown squirrels number in the thousands - and they could swell to tens of thousands by 2000, Cunningham said. Also very plentiful are 3- to 6-foot-long innocuous black snakes. Poisonous snakes such as cottonmouths and copperheads also call the park home.
There are 50 to 60 raccoons and about a dozen gray foxes. Opossum, muskrat, field mice, bullfrogs and lizards also thrive in the park, and its waterways teem with spot, croaker, flounder, trout, puppy drum and blues.
Birds, such as the osprey, which is about the same size as an American eagle, are numerous, Cunningham said, as are woodpeckers, kingfishers, blue herons, snowy egrets, seagulls, black birds, red birds and blue birds. Gone, however, are the brown and black bears and wild deer that roamed the park's woods in the 1950s and '60s.
Cunningham is proud of the park, which covers more than 2,700 acres and is host to some 1 million visitors each year.
In the decades since 1933, when it was created, the park and its wildlife have been crowded in and at times threatened by nearby development. Recently, errant pets roaming the park have left dead rabbits and squirrels in their wake, and bicyclists riding in off-limits areas have caused damage.
Yet, overall, said Cunningham, the Virginia Beach community has been respectful and considerate of park life.
``All the animals have now is Seashore,'' he said. MEMO: Seashore State Park is open year-round. The campground is open from
mid-March to mid-October. Various fees are charged. Call 422-0309 for
more information.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by GREG GOLDFARB
Rocky Raccoon is among the critters being protected by John
Cunningham, a ranger at Seashore State Park.
by CNB