simon says: 'adopt me' Junior Nathan Mayes found a whole new meaning to 'man's best friend.' In April 2019, junior visual art studio major Nathan Mayes adopted and rehabilitated an orphaned raccoon. Mayes said his family was known for taking in unusual animals including squirrels, raccoons and deer. His parents' neighbors gave them three orphaned raccoons after the mother was killed. Mayes said his family gave the female to a rehabilitator and kept the two males, Simon and Theo, in hopes of rehabilitating them and returning them to the wild. Mayes said they decided to keep Simon as a pet, even after returning his brother to the wild, because he was gentle and friendly. "Simon was just really easy-going,"Mayes said. "So we got him harness trained,and he did the litter box on his own finally. That took a while." Mayes said he decided to take Simon with him to college because he did not want to let him go. He saidSimon had his own room at Mayes grandparents' house in Beebe, Arkansas, where Mayes lived off campus. "Helikes to play a lot normally around 9 o'clock at night because they are nocturnal," Mayes said. "He'salso really sweet and will just want to chill on the couch sometimes, watch TV." Freshman Annie Davis, Mayes' girlfriend, said she was excited to meet the baby raccoons when the family first found them because she also loved animals. Davis said her favorite memory with Simon was his first club softball game. She said Simon was scared and held onto her as he sat in her lap. "He just kept looking up at me and licking my hand," Davis said. "That was probably my favorite memory because we definitely bonded." Davis and Mayes both said Simon liked sports, going to Harding football games and watching television with them. Other friends of Mayes said they enjoyed being around Simon because of his puppy-like sociability. "I do like to hang out with him," junior Trey Thomas, friend of Mayes, said. "He's very social like a dog, but he also likes to climb on you like a cat." Mayes echoed junior Grant Woods sentiment, who referred to Simon as "a raccoon of the people." However, Mayes also mentioned Simon had typical raccoon qualities that sometimes got him in trouble. "Raccoons, they get into everything you don't want them to, so he knows how to do that," Mayes said. "He's a mess more than he's sweet, but he can be sweet." story by Sarah Barnard people 141
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