- Raccoons must have some kind of a news network to know where to show up in these numbers.
There are a lot critters out in our woods and fields that look cute and pet-able. We’re talking about rabbits, squirrels, hedgehogs, otters…
Perhaps even raccoons.
But you shouldn’t forget that as cuddly as they may seem, these are wild animals. They’re not your friends, as one Washington woman recently found out.
For more than three decades, she had been feeding the raccoons living around her house. She had never had any issues with them — until recently.
Some kind of trash panda memo must’ve gone around because, over the past couple of months, more and more raccoons had been traveling to the woman’s home. Then came the fateful day when she had to call 911.
That was because more than 100 raccoons had besieged her home, begging for scraps.
If you ever needed a demonstration of why you shouldn’t feed the animals around your home, this is it.
It Was Going So Well
The heroine of our story has mercifully been left unnamed by the authorities. However, we do know that she lives near Poulsbo, Washington.
We also know that raccoons live around her property.
The critters, however, haven’t been a problem for the woman. In fact, they’ve gotten together quite well.
For more than 35 years, the woman has been feeding the raccoons around her house. We couldn’t find out what she was feeding them, but considering they’re raccoons, anything probably goes.
On their end, the raccoons had always been cordial. They’d eaten the food and not bothered the woman or her neighbors (more than raccoons generally do).
That all changed some six weeks before the… Incident.
More and more raccoons suddenly started arriving to the woman’s house in search of food. She had never seen many of the animals before, and she didn’t like how aggressive they looked.
“She said the normal raccoons are nice, but the new ones scare her,” Kevin McCarty, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office, told USA Today.
“Somehow the word got out in raccoon land and they all showed up to her house expecting a meal,” he added.
Yet, the woman didn’t stop feeding them. In fact, throwing food at the raccoons became part of her strategy to get out of her house.
And that was a big mistake.
‘This Was a First’
Things finally came to a head On October 3. On that day, the woman picked up the phone and called 911.
We can only imagine the responder’s reaction to the reason why she was calling. The woman asked for the police to come and break the raccoon siege around her home.
Well, the cops showed up. But when they arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes.
More than 100 raccoons were swarming around the woman’s home.
“They were shocked. They had never seen that many raccoons in one place. Nobody ever remembers being surrounded by a swarm of raccoons,” said McCarty.
“This was a first.”
The cops helped clear the way for the woman to get into her car. However, that marked the end of their authority.
“At this point, it’s been determined that the raccoons haven’t committed any crimes,” McCarty quipped.
He says that, but we feel the raccoons are guilty of some kind of trespassing or harassment crime. According to the woman, they had started approaching her house and scratching at her windows and walls at all times of the day, begging for food.
She also said that she had contacted a trapping company about removing the raccoons. However, she couldn’t afford their services as they would’ve charged her $500 — per raccoon.
The case has been handed to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. For now, however, the raccoon siege remains in place.
Don’t Trust Wildlife
This is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t feed the wild animals living around your home. No matter how cute they are, they are not your pets, and they may become unpredictable if they get used to humans.
But if this case isn’t enough to convince you, here’s another one. A couple of years ago, a squirrel named Stripe went nuts in the U.K.
Corrine Reynolds had been feeding the squirrel in her Welsh home’s yard and, like with the raccoon woman, all was fine at first. One day, however, Stripe lost his marbles without warning.
Over the next 48 hours, the insane squirrel attacked 18 people in Reynold’s neighborhood. Feeling responsible for his crimes, Reynolds trapped Stripe and handed him over to animal control, who became the squirrel’s executioners.
So, to spare yourself from having your home sieged or your heart broken by squirrely betrayal, be smart. Don’t feed wild animals.