Pumpkin The Raccoon

2014Celebrity animal / viral petdead

Also known as: Pumps

Pumpkin the Raccoon is a 2014 Instagram celebrity pet who became famous for photos of eating at the dinner table and cuddling with her dog siblings, amassing over 1.4 million followers.

Pumpkin the Raccoon was a pet raccoon who lived with a family in the Bahamas and became one of Instagram's biggest animal celebrities, amassing over 1.4 million followers before her death in 2019. After falling from a tree as a one-month-old baby in October 2014, Pumpkin was rescued by the Young family and raised alongside their two dogs, Toffee and Oreo. Her photos of eating at the dinner table, cuddling with her canine "siblings," and getting into household mischief made her a viral sensation and the subject of a book.

celebrity animal memesanimal memesrescue animal memesinstagram memes

Overview

Pumpkin the Raccoon was a female raccoon raised as a house pet in Nassau, Bahamas. What made her stand out from typical pet accounts was the absurdity and charm of a raccoon living a fully domesticated life. She ate pizza and edamame at the family dinner table, took baths with rubber ducks, learned to use a toilet, and napped in elaborate poses on the couch1. Her bond with the family's two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo, gave the account its emotional core. Pumpkin treated them as her mothers, cuddling with them and roughhousing until they'd had enough2.

The account thrived on the contrast between Pumpkin's wild raccoon instincts and her pampered domestic life. She could be moody, destructive, and mischievous. Once she turned on every faucet in the house while the family was away, flooding the place3. But she was also affectionate, licking tears off her owner Laura Young's face during tough moments7.

In October 2014, a baby raccoon fell out of a tree in Rosie Kemp's backyard in Nassau, Bahamas1. The raccoon was roughly one month old, extremely weak, and had a broken hind leg6. Kemp waited for the mother to return, but she never did2. The nearby Bahamas Humane Society couldn't take in an orphaned raccoon, so Kemp and her daughter Laura Young decided to raise her themselves1.

With guidance from friends who had experience with raccoons, the family nursed the baby back to health and named her Pumpkin3. After about a month, Pumpkin moved in with Laura and her husband William, where she immediately bonded with their two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo1. The Bahamas had no rabies and no restrictions on keeping raccoons, making the arrangement legal. Pumpkin was vaccinated and spayed1.

On December 30, 2014, Laura Young created an Instagram account for Pumpkin and posted the first photo. It received 6,498 likes4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram
Key People
Laura Young, William Young, Rosie Kemp
Date
2014

In October 2014, a baby raccoon fell out of a tree in Rosie Kemp's backyard in Nassau, Bahamas. The raccoon was roughly one month old, extremely weak, and had a broken hind leg. Kemp waited for the mother to return, but she never did. The nearby Bahamas Humane Society couldn't take in an orphaned raccoon, so Kemp and her daughter Laura Young decided to raise her themselves.

With guidance from friends who had experience with raccoons, the family nursed the baby back to health and named her Pumpkin. After about a month, Pumpkin moved in with Laura and her husband William, where she immediately bonded with their two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo. The Bahamas had no rabies and no restrictions on keeping raccoons, making the arrangement legal. Pumpkin was vaccinated and spayed.

On December 30, 2014, Laura Young created an Instagram account for Pumpkin and posted the first photo. It received 6,498 likes.

How It Spread

Pumpkin's Instagram grew quickly thanks to the novelty of a pet raccoon living like a dog. On February 4, 2015, a Reddit post to r/aww titled "My friend rescued a baby raccoon. Meet Pumpkin, the raccoon who is too cute to handle!" pulled in 3,006 upvotes with 95% approval. More photos from the account kept surfacing on Reddit throughout the year.

The account saw its first major viral spike in 2015 when The Dodo published a feature on Pumpkin. "I never imagined she would become such a hit!" Laura Young said. By October 2015, Pumpkin had 77,000 Instagram followers and was featured in a CBS News photo essay. By January 2016, the count hit 514,000 on Instagram, 50,000 likes on Facebook, and 3,200 followers on Twitter.

Coverage spread to major outlets. Us Weekly profiled Pumpkin as a "social media star". Garden & Gun, a Southern lifestyle magazine, not only featured the Youngs' Bahamas home on its cover but profiled Pumpkin's rise to fame, noting she had surpassed 1.2 million Instagram followers. Laura Young used the platform for advocacy, partnering with the Bahamas Alliance for Animal Rights and Kindness (BAARK) and the Bahamas Humane Society to feature rescue dogs and raise donations.

At her peak, Pumpkin had over 1.4 million Instagram followers and more than 1,200 posts documenting her daily life. She also starred in a book, *Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog*, written by Laura Young about her life and relationship with Toffee and Oreo.

How to Use This Meme

Pumpkin the Raccoon wasn't a meme template in the traditional sense. There's no exploitable format or image macro. Instead, her photos circulated as standalone wholesome content, typically shared in contexts like:

- "Animals being raised by other species" threads - Wholesome or feel-good content compilations - Discussions about unusual pets or raccoon intelligence - Instagram's animal celebrity ecosystem

People engaged with Pumpkin content by sharing her posts, tagging friends, and using her photos in "goals" or reaction contexts (e.g., Pumpkin eating pizza at a table as a mood).

Cultural Impact

Pumpkin's rise coincided with the explosion of animal influencer accounts on Instagram in the mid-2010s. She was covered by CBS News, BBC, CNN, Daily Mail, Us Weekly, and Garden & Gun, among others. Her crossover appeal went beyond typical pet accounts because of the inherent absurdity of a raccoon eating at a dinner table with a knife and fork.

Laura Young published the book *Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog*, which told Pumpkin's story and documented her relationship with Toffee and Oreo. The book gave the account a narrative arc beyond daily Instagram posts.

Pumpkin also served as an ambassador for animal rescue causes. Through partnerships with BAARK and the Bahamas Humane Society, the account featured rescue dogs in need of homes and raised donations for both organizations. During Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, Pumpkin's platform raised funds for World Central Kitchen and hurricane relief.

Full History

Pumpkin's early months were spent recovering from her injuries and adjusting to life indoors. Laura Young later admitted the family was nervous at first. "We had never raised a baby raccoon before," she told the Today show in 2015, "but with the guidance of friends that had experience, we cared for her". Pumpkin quickly took to her canine housemates. She considered Toffee and Oreo her mothers, and her bond with Oreo was especially strong. When Pumpkin was sick, Oreo would lie beside her and offer "kisses".

Living with Pumpkin was like living with a "permanent toddler," as Laura described it. The raccoon was highly intelligent, which made her both entertaining and exhausting. She could open doors, rummage through anything, and had a talent for mischief. Her owners' favorite story involved "the great flood," when Pumpkin turned on every faucet in the house while they were out. She also destroyed oranges purely for fun, not to eat them.

Despite the chaos, Pumpkin's personality was magnetic. Her Instagram showed her eating edamame for breakfast, nibbling tiny pancakes, reading "Harry Potter" (propped open in front of her), and lounging in the Bahamian sun with a coconut in her mouth. CNN described her as "perhaps the first raccoon-fluencer to grace social media". She lived in a Bahamian cottage so photogenic it appeared on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine.

The account took on a philanthropic dimension in 2019 when Hurricane Dorian devastated the neighboring Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama. Pumpkin's platform was used to raise awareness and funds for relief efforts through organizations like World Central Kitchen and the Bahamas Humane Society. Laura always included a disclaimer in interviews that raccoons are not pets and that injured or orphaned raccoons should be taken to wildlife shelters.

Pumpkin died in October 2019 at roughly five years old. Wild raccoons typically live only two to three years, so she had already exceeded that lifespan. Her death came as a shock to the family. Laura Young announced the news on Instagram on October 30, 2019. "I am so completely ruined that I can barely see what I am typing as there are so many tears pouring down my face," she wrote to 1.4 million followers.

Laura credited Pumpkin with getting her through difficult periods. When she struggled with breastfeeding after having her daughter, Pumpkin would come into the bedroom and lick the tears from her face. "This little raccoon literally fell into my life when I was going through a tough time. She gave me purpose and gave me confidence," Laura said. Her husband William summed it up: "She is now forever dreaming of avocados, eggs, and sips of my leftover tea".

Laura committed to keeping the Instagram account active in some form to honor Pumpkin's memory. "The format will change but it's important to me to honour our girl Pumps," she wrote. Pumpkin was survived by the Youngs, their daughter, and rescue dogs Toffee and Oreo.

Fun Facts

Pumpkin learned to use the family's toilet on her own, though Laura noted this was more a result of raccoon curiosity than actual training.

Laura Young's least favorite thing about Pumpkin was how intelligent she was, because "anticipating a raccoon's next move can be a bit of a handful".

Pumpkin's home appeared on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine's August/September issue, bringing attention to the Youngs' Bahamas cottage before many readers even knew about the raccoon.

Wild raccoons typically survive only two to three years. Pumpkin lived to almost five.

Pumpkin's favorite foods included avocados, eggs, pizza, and sips of leftover tea.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pumpkin The Raccoon

2014Celebrity animal / viral petdead

Also known as: Pumps

Pumpkin the Raccoon is a 2014 Instagram celebrity pet who became famous for photos of eating at the dinner table and cuddling with her dog siblings, amassing over 1.4 million followers.

Pumpkin the Raccoon was a pet raccoon who lived with a family in the Bahamas and became one of Instagram's biggest animal celebrities, amassing over 1.4 million followers before her death in 2019. After falling from a tree as a one-month-old baby in October 2014, Pumpkin was rescued by the Young family and raised alongside their two dogs, Toffee and Oreo. Her photos of eating at the dinner table, cuddling with her canine "siblings," and getting into household mischief made her a viral sensation and the subject of a book.

celebrity animal memes animal memes rescue animal memes instagram memes

Overview

Pumpkin the Raccoon was a female raccoon raised as a house pet in Nassau, Bahamas. What made her stand out from typical pet accounts was the absurdity and charm of a raccoon living a fully domesticated life. She ate pizza and edamame at the family dinner table, took baths with rubber ducks, learned to use a toilet, and napped in elaborate poses on the couch. Her bond with the family's two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo, gave the account its emotional core. Pumpkin treated them as her mothers, cuddling with them and roughhousing until they'd had enough.

The account thrived on the contrast between Pumpkin's wild raccoon instincts and her pampered domestic life. She could be moody, destructive, and mischievous. Once she turned on every faucet in the house while the family was away, flooding the place. But she was also affectionate, licking tears off her owner Laura Young's face during tough moments.

In October 2014, a baby raccoon fell out of a tree in Rosie Kemp's backyard in Nassau, Bahamas. The raccoon was roughly one month old, extremely weak, and had a broken hind leg. Kemp waited for the mother to return, but she never did. The nearby Bahamas Humane Society couldn't take in an orphaned raccoon, so Kemp and her daughter Laura Young decided to raise her themselves.

With guidance from friends who had experience with raccoons, the family nursed the baby back to health and named her Pumpkin. After about a month, Pumpkin moved in with Laura and her husband William, where she immediately bonded with their two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo. The Bahamas had no rabies and no restrictions on keeping raccoons, making the arrangement legal. Pumpkin was vaccinated and spayed.

On December 30, 2014, Laura Young created an Instagram account for Pumpkin and posted the first photo. It received 6,498 likes.

Origin & Background

Platform
Instagram
Key People
Laura Young, William Young, Rosie Kemp
Date
2014

In October 2014, a baby raccoon fell out of a tree in Rosie Kemp's backyard in Nassau, Bahamas. The raccoon was roughly one month old, extremely weak, and had a broken hind leg. Kemp waited for the mother to return, but she never did. The nearby Bahamas Humane Society couldn't take in an orphaned raccoon, so Kemp and her daughter Laura Young decided to raise her themselves.

With guidance from friends who had experience with raccoons, the family nursed the baby back to health and named her Pumpkin. After about a month, Pumpkin moved in with Laura and her husband William, where she immediately bonded with their two rescue dogs, Toffee and Oreo. The Bahamas had no rabies and no restrictions on keeping raccoons, making the arrangement legal. Pumpkin was vaccinated and spayed.

On December 30, 2014, Laura Young created an Instagram account for Pumpkin and posted the first photo. It received 6,498 likes.

How It Spread

Pumpkin's Instagram grew quickly thanks to the novelty of a pet raccoon living like a dog. On February 4, 2015, a Reddit post to r/aww titled "My friend rescued a baby raccoon. Meet Pumpkin, the raccoon who is too cute to handle!" pulled in 3,006 upvotes with 95% approval. More photos from the account kept surfacing on Reddit throughout the year.

The account saw its first major viral spike in 2015 when The Dodo published a feature on Pumpkin. "I never imagined she would become such a hit!" Laura Young said. By October 2015, Pumpkin had 77,000 Instagram followers and was featured in a CBS News photo essay. By January 2016, the count hit 514,000 on Instagram, 50,000 likes on Facebook, and 3,200 followers on Twitter.

Coverage spread to major outlets. Us Weekly profiled Pumpkin as a "social media star". Garden & Gun, a Southern lifestyle magazine, not only featured the Youngs' Bahamas home on its cover but profiled Pumpkin's rise to fame, noting she had surpassed 1.2 million Instagram followers. Laura Young used the platform for advocacy, partnering with the Bahamas Alliance for Animal Rights and Kindness (BAARK) and the Bahamas Humane Society to feature rescue dogs and raise donations.

At her peak, Pumpkin had over 1.4 million Instagram followers and more than 1,200 posts documenting her daily life. She also starred in a book, *Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog*, written by Laura Young about her life and relationship with Toffee and Oreo.

How to Use This Meme

Pumpkin the Raccoon wasn't a meme template in the traditional sense. There's no exploitable format or image macro. Instead, her photos circulated as standalone wholesome content, typically shared in contexts like:

- "Animals being raised by other species" threads - Wholesome or feel-good content compilations - Discussions about unusual pets or raccoon intelligence - Instagram's animal celebrity ecosystem

People engaged with Pumpkin content by sharing her posts, tagging friends, and using her photos in "goals" or reaction contexts (e.g., Pumpkin eating pizza at a table as a mood).

Cultural Impact

Pumpkin's rise coincided with the explosion of animal influencer accounts on Instagram in the mid-2010s. She was covered by CBS News, BBC, CNN, Daily Mail, Us Weekly, and Garden & Gun, among others. Her crossover appeal went beyond typical pet accounts because of the inherent absurdity of a raccoon eating at a dinner table with a knife and fork.

Laura Young published the book *Pumpkin: The Raccoon Who Thought She Was a Dog*, which told Pumpkin's story and documented her relationship with Toffee and Oreo. The book gave the account a narrative arc beyond daily Instagram posts.

Pumpkin also served as an ambassador for animal rescue causes. Through partnerships with BAARK and the Bahamas Humane Society, the account featured rescue dogs in need of homes and raised donations for both organizations. During Hurricane Dorian in September 2019, Pumpkin's platform raised funds for World Central Kitchen and hurricane relief.

Full History

Pumpkin's early months were spent recovering from her injuries and adjusting to life indoors. Laura Young later admitted the family was nervous at first. "We had never raised a baby raccoon before," she told the Today show in 2015, "but with the guidance of friends that had experience, we cared for her". Pumpkin quickly took to her canine housemates. She considered Toffee and Oreo her mothers, and her bond with Oreo was especially strong. When Pumpkin was sick, Oreo would lie beside her and offer "kisses".

Living with Pumpkin was like living with a "permanent toddler," as Laura described it. The raccoon was highly intelligent, which made her both entertaining and exhausting. She could open doors, rummage through anything, and had a talent for mischief. Her owners' favorite story involved "the great flood," when Pumpkin turned on every faucet in the house while they were out. She also destroyed oranges purely for fun, not to eat them.

Despite the chaos, Pumpkin's personality was magnetic. Her Instagram showed her eating edamame for breakfast, nibbling tiny pancakes, reading "Harry Potter" (propped open in front of her), and lounging in the Bahamian sun with a coconut in her mouth. CNN described her as "perhaps the first raccoon-fluencer to grace social media". She lived in a Bahamian cottage so photogenic it appeared on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine.

The account took on a philanthropic dimension in 2019 when Hurricane Dorian devastated the neighboring Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama. Pumpkin's platform was used to raise awareness and funds for relief efforts through organizations like World Central Kitchen and the Bahamas Humane Society. Laura always included a disclaimer in interviews that raccoons are not pets and that injured or orphaned raccoons should be taken to wildlife shelters.

Pumpkin died in October 2019 at roughly five years old. Wild raccoons typically live only two to three years, so she had already exceeded that lifespan. Her death came as a shock to the family. Laura Young announced the news on Instagram on October 30, 2019. "I am so completely ruined that I can barely see what I am typing as there are so many tears pouring down my face," she wrote to 1.4 million followers.

Laura credited Pumpkin with getting her through difficult periods. When she struggled with breastfeeding after having her daughter, Pumpkin would come into the bedroom and lick the tears from her face. "This little raccoon literally fell into my life when I was going through a tough time. She gave me purpose and gave me confidence," Laura said. Her husband William summed it up: "She is now forever dreaming of avocados, eggs, and sips of my leftover tea".

Laura committed to keeping the Instagram account active in some form to honor Pumpkin's memory. "The format will change but it's important to me to honour our girl Pumps," she wrote. Pumpkin was survived by the Youngs, their daughter, and rescue dogs Toffee and Oreo.

Fun Facts

Pumpkin learned to use the family's toilet on her own, though Laura noted this was more a result of raccoon curiosity than actual training.

Laura Young's least favorite thing about Pumpkin was how intelligent she was, because "anticipating a raccoon's next move can be a bit of a handful".

Pumpkin's home appeared on the cover of Garden & Gun magazine's August/September issue, bringing attention to the Youngs' Bahamas cottage before many readers even knew about the raccoon.

Wild raccoons typically survive only two to three years. Pumpkin lived to almost five.

Pumpkin's favorite foods included avocados, eggs, pizza, and sips of leftover tea.

Frequently Asked Questions