Some may think everyone just owns cats and dogs. Little do they know, there are many cases of “odd pets” right here in Powell.

“It’s a squirrel; I found it under a tree at the college,” sophomore Robert Benner said.” My brother called me down when I woke up, and I went down there and we grabbed it. I just fell in love with it, so I kept it.”

The hopeless squirrel could have died if it wasn’t for Benner’s affectionate hospitality.

“It was dying, so I took it home and made it better again,” Benner said.

When he arrived at the “squirrel scene,” it was obvious the squirrel was injured. Knowing it would die with no help,  Benner knew he had to care for the helpless creature. So, he took the squirrel home and took it upon himself to care for it.

“It was a nice little pet,” said Benner, who had his pet squirrel Theodore for about three months.

“I took this old shelf thing and took the shelf [base] out of it,” Benner said. “I kept it on the side and set it in there with blankets and towels and stuff.”

That isn’t the only “odd pet” case here at Powell High School.

“I had a pet raccoon,” sophomore Megan Cotter said. “My mom’s friend had these baby racoons that he found in his garage, but the mom got run over on the road. He didn’t know what to do with the raccoons, so I took one of those ones and I just raised it.”

Just like Benner’s hopeless squirrel, this racoon had no hope of survival until Megan Cotter to the rescue.

“He was really fun, like he would act just like a cat; he would purr and he would go swimming and play in the pool and stuff,” Cotter said.

Although her raccoon Blin,  had many advantages, it also had a few disadvantages.

“They get aggressive.,” Cotter said. “I had a male, and I got all of his shots and stuff, but he wasn’t neutered so it made him really aggressive.”

Cotter kept her ‘coon past its “golden age,” and she eventually had to get rid of it.

“We had him for like two years,” Cotter said. “The golden age is from birth until like four weeks, and then they start getting independent and want to do their own thing.”

Some may ask, where does one keep a raccoon anyway?

“I kept him outside, but we have this shed thing,” Cotter said. “We have this shed thing, it’s like an insulated shed. It had a door and everything, like you could live in there yourself. We made ramps up the walls, and we had a house and we put tree branches in there and everything.”

Another question may come to mind, what do you feed a racoon?

“We fed him dog food, and soft cat food and stuff. He would eat anything,” Cotter said.

She also noted later that it was difficult because her raccoon was nocturnal. Cotter said she had to wake up through the night in order to bottle feed and play with her pet.

“We loved him. We would just always hang out with him. He was just really fun,” Cotter said.

What could get “odder” than a squirrel or a raccoon? There may be one that tops it.

“My dad came home with it because my Uncle Justin showed up with it and he’s kind of a character,” freshman Ashlyn Shorb said, “and it was a piranha.”

Having a piranha would definitely give someone bragging rights, but is it really all it’s cracked up to be?

“It was cool to show people, and he was kind of a cool little guy,” Shorb said. “I guess the disadvantages would be that you couldn’t get close to him or touch him. It [the tank] was also hard to clean, because he bites.”

Little tasks that are done with a “normal” pet become much harder when you have a pet piranha.

“We all really liked him, but I wasn’t allowed to touch him,” Shorb said. “Then my sister came so we couldn’t have a baby and a piranha together.”

From squirrels to piranhas, there are many cases of “odd pets” here in Powell. One may never know of all the interesting animals kept as pets in someone else’s home.