ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — * Watch First Coast News at 5 p.m. Friday to see more on this precious report
At a time when division is rampant in our country and our differences often highlighted more than our similarities, a St. Johns County man says we can all learn a valuable lesson from a unique friendship formed in his backyard.
For two animals that visit Louis Abbruzze’s yard each it day, their friendship started soon after birth.
“It all started in November of 2010. Both of their mothers had litters. The raccoon had a litter, and the cat had a litter.”
Meet Pinto the cat and Tina the raccoon. They started out playing in the grass as babies.
“Pinto and Tina are two opposites. You'll probably never see a raccoon in the forest with a cat,” Abbruzze said.
But that's just what he has witnessed, watching these two animals grow up behind his home in Durbin Crossing.
“He doesn't know he's a cat. He doesn't know she's a raccoon,” Abbruzze reflected. “They hug each other and clean each other and kiss each other's head."
They live in the woods but come to his yard every day to be fed.
“It started 10 years ago, and Pinto has been to the vet, he's had his shots. He's been fixed.”
While they may look different from one another he says they're inseparable.
“Pinto never leaves the area. Tina doesn't leave the area. She stays in her hut. At night, he'll go in the hut with her,” Abbruzze said.
A bond so tight he says the cat has raised the raccoon’s babies.
“Tina's had, I believe four different litters, or maybe five, and she allows Pinto to raise them with her. And that's unreal,” Abbruzze said. “It just shows the love and the trust that they have with each other. Nobody can tell me that's not love. These are two wild animals living in the forest loving each other as one. It makes me feel good."
A reminder he says that we are a lot more alike than we are different.
“There is no way that we cannot find some truth in what Pinto and Tina do with their lives, and maybe copy it,” Abbruzze said. “We’re all one, no matter what color, what creed, what race. It doesn't matter. We are the same inside, no matter what we look like or what we sound like outside. Pinto and Tina have shown us that.”
A special bond
