“About 20 years ago because of sheer exhaustion and stress I had a nervous breakdown,” he says. . . .Jenkins gave up a successful career in education and social care to devote himself to animal welfare, setting up the non-profit Raccoon Rescue UK. He has never looked back and is the go-to person if a raccoon or similar exotic animal is on the loose in the UK. At present he is helping to lead the hunt for a fugitive city farm raccoon, Meeko, in Sunderland.

Nearly 40 miles south, Jenkins shares his home with four raccoons, a grey African parrot and a skunk whose favourite resting place is Jenkins’ bed.

The raccoons are in enclosures outside and include two brothers, Scout and Nicky, who needed a home after another rescue centre closed down and who do not, Jenkins says, want or crave any human connection.

Then there is Rubbish, a male and, at 18, a very old raccoon, recovered during a police house raid in Northern Ireland. The friendliest of all is Katana, who was an ill-advised choice of pet that her owners knew needed a better life than they could provide.

Jenkins says he adapts to what the animals want, not the other way round. “A lot of the animals we get have behavioural issues because of the way they have been treated. If they want to hide away and not be disturbed, that’s absolutely fine.”