There are no good intentions.
A Washington state woman who had been feeding her neighbor's raccoons for decades called 911 after returning home to find more than 100 furry masked intruders blocking her access. I reported it to.
Kitsap County sheriff's deputies responded to the scene and said the woman told them she had been feeding the animals at her Poulsbo home for 35 years without incident.
That is, until six weeks ago, when the population “exploded,” resulting in dozens of ringtail bandits surrounding her suburban compound day and night last week, “demanding food.” It was.
Deputies were “shocked” to see so many raccoons in one place, Sheriff's Office Spokesman Kevin McCarthy told 9News.
“Somehow, the word got out in raccoon land, and they all showed up at her house expecting a meal,” he added.
“Nobody remembers being surrounded by a pack of raccoons. This was a first.”
Fortunately, no one was reported to have been bitten or injured by the animals, which are known to carry diseases such as rabies and roundworms.
However, female neighbors were not very common in zoos growing up.
“I think it was in the last month or so,” Wendy Cronk, who lives nearby, told the outlet.
“We had some raccoons in our yard recently. My dogs got into a few scuffles with the raccoons. I even had to take one of the dogs to the vet after getting smacked with the raccoon. “We also noticed that there were more hit raccoons on the main roads here,” she said.
“I hope someone steps in and helps her take care of this…and hopefully she will stop doing it,” she lamented.
McCarty said the woman told lawmakers she was in contact with a trapping organization to control the rapidly growing population, but was asked to pay a whopping $500 per animal to trap. It is said that he did.
The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office directed the homeowner to contact the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to address the issue.
They arrived in surprising numbers, but the vast majority appear to be law-abiding.
“At this point, it was determined that the raccoon had not committed any crime,” McCarty told the outlet.
This incident is a textbook example of why people are not deterred from feeding wild animals, McCarty said.
“It's very simple: Don't feed wild animals. When wild animals have a reliable food source, they keep coming back to it. And that's because the number of raccoons expecting a meal… That’s what these raccoons did until it got out of hand.”
Although adorable, raccoons can cause serious destruction if left to their own devices.
A Brooklyn family made this discovery to their horror last week when a group of critters ravaged their $1.2 million home, pooping and peeing everywhere and causing more than $100,000 in damage. Insurance companies do not cover this loss.
