New Forest couple share life with their pet raccoon Miskha

Miskha loves cuddles, feasts on avocado and pistachio nuts and gets up to mischief with a dog named after a US president.

The nearly seven-year-old is the third raccoon given a home by retired couple Gillian and Graham Waters from Fawley. 

She's very different from previous pets Casey and particularly Nigel Farage, a sociable raccoon who was the 'life and soul of the party' and would enjoy days out crabbing at Lepe Beach and playing in the sand at Bolton's Bench. He also once pilfered a neighbour's mobile phone.

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Mishka is a lazy but lovable raccoon who likes to wander around her spacious indoor and outdoor enclosures, as well as enjoying occasional playtime in the house and garden. 

Gillian and Graham first fell in love with raccoons when they lived in Florida in the 90s and 00s and had one which visited them in their yard regularly.

When they returned to the UK in 2004, they were looking for a guinea pig to adopt, but were tempted by an advert for raccoons for sale and became friendly with a breeder. 

They also have two rescue dogs Elf and Kennedy and two guinea pigs Boris Johnson and Billy Bob, but Mishka rules the roost. 

She is a fussy eater who enjoys a varied almost entirely vegetarian diet, refusing the Waitrose chicken thighs the previous raccoon pets enjoyed, but particularly liking pistachio nuts and avocado - as long as they're not served up too often.

When young, Mishka and Kennedy were caught tearing wallpaper down.

These days she lives life at a slower pace and is regularly injected with insulin due to suffering from diabetes. 

Gillian, 77, told the Daily Echo: "Raccoons can bite and scratch and Mishka was manic as a baby and very feisty, but these days she's very lazy.

"I can kiss and cuddle her, but you certainly can't make them do anything they don't want to do.

"She's fussy and funny, but she's adorable . She's like my baby, she's just so cute. It's lovely having a raccoon."

It's now illegal to keep raccoons as a pet in the UK, but Mishka is exempt as she was already living with Gillian and Graham when regulations changed.