Wandering raccoon in Wallaceburg raises concern

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When Wallaceburg resident Melissa Floin was heading back to work at McNaughton Family Dental after her lunch break this afternoon, she noticed an unusual visitor in the parking lot.

“It was moving really slowly and I could get really close to it, within a foot,” she said of the raccoon that was wandering around the parking lot at 68 McNaughton Avenue.

“After we saw him pawing at the window here, he walked down and went right into Mark’s Work Warehouse,” said Melissa Ritchie, the manager at McNaughton Family Dental. “We went down and helped shoo him out.”

Ritchie said the the animal proceeded to walk near a drain pipe by Canadian Tire, before slowly walking towards The Beer Store. She said it was also in the garden centre at Canadian Tire and by Wal-Mart as well.

Unsure what action to take next, Floin said they started making phone calls.

Floin said they called the Wallaceburg Animal Shelter, the Municipality and the Chatham-Kent Police Service, and a pest control company that was going to charge them about $200 to come pick up the animal.

Ritchie added she knows that typically raccoon’s “are not the nicest animals” and can become violent.

“We made sure that we reminded some kids that came into the office that it may be cute, but it could be dangerous and to not go near it,” she said.

Nancy Havens, the manager of licensing service for the municipality, said the municipality does not get involved with these type of situations.

“Usually when there is a raccoon in urban setting it would be the (Ministry of Natural Resources), although there is no MNR Chatham branch anymore, it’s in Aylmer,” she said. “Our local OSPCA, they do not have in their contract to do wildlife for us… they will respond to cruelty matters under their provincial legislation or dog control for the municipality. They do not respond to wildlife calls.”

Havens said the municipal website has links to the MNR, and to the OSPCA and it gives detailed fact sheets about how to deal with wildlife in our communities.

“Our municipality is so large and we have a lot of rural areas around our urban centres, a lot of times wildlife does get in,” she said. “What we tell people is when you have a raccoon, a skunk or a deer causing problems, the first thing to do, if it is an immediate danger to humans they are suppose to call police, if it is just a raccoon that is walking around at the mall, it would be up to the property owner to remove it. They would call pest control or a licensed trapper.”

The Sydenham Current discovered that a local resident, who asked to remain anonymous, trapped the raccoon and moved it to a location outside of town.

“He’s fine, just hungry and silly,” the person said. “He was trying to eat cigarette butts by the Beer Store. I brought him into the country beside a pile of corn in a field with some trees nearby.”

The person added: “They are now so use to humans, they’re almost tame. All of the trees are almost gone around here, that is there home, so they’re moving into town.”

Havens said the MNR office in Aylmer can be reached at 519-773-9241 or the Naturaul Resources Information Centre can be reached at 1-800-667-1940.

Check out the Chatham-Kent web portal for more information on nuisance animals.

Here are some more photos:

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Contributed photo.

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4 COMMENTS

  1. It has distemper!! It should of never been relocated .. It’s just going to spread it more and die slow and painfully

    • There was no mention that it had distemper. Friendly raccoons aren’t always sick. When they become habituated to humans they’ll act as described in this article.

      Relocation of wildlife isn’t advisable. If it was ill, it’ll spread the disease. Additionally, relocation can cause distress to existing residents that occupy the space and cause needless fighting. It would’ve been best to leave the raccoon in the area it was found but placed closer nearby in the greenery.

  2. Any raccoon out during the day, or before dusk, is sick. I had a pet raccoon when I was a child, this animal was sick, and never should have been relocated. This animal was acting out of the ordinary, eating cigarette butts? Obviously NOT their normal activity. This animal should have never been relocated where it can spread its illness to other animals. Distemper can be spread easily to other animals, and what if it has Rabies (which also makes an animal act out of sorts)?

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