SoylentNews

HughPickens.com [hughpickens.com] writes:

Annie Correal reports at the NY Times that although New York City may be better known for its rat population, the city’s 311 help line received 1,581 inquiries about raccoon control in 2015 as of mid-December, up from 936 in all of 2014, according to official data. Raccoons are often thought of as forest-dwelling creatures, but raccoons can reach a very high density in cities [nytimes.com], says Samuel I. Zeveloff, author of “Raccoons, A Natural History.” “They’re truly incredible in their adaptability,” says Zeveloff. Raccoons are omnivorous and opportunistic, easily switching from eating grubs or bird eggs to devouring human and pet food, and from living in tree hollows to inhabiting attics and chimneys. This flexibility, combined with a relative lack of predators, can lead to rapid population growth. Flexible about where they den, willing to eat just about anything, raccoons transited seamlessly from forest to city [nwf.org]. Brick walls proved as easy to climb as trees. Attics and chimneys turned out to be perfectly cozy places for sleeping and for rearing young. Compared to other wildlife species living near humans, such as coyotes and deer, raccoons are in a league of their own.

The problem is that is difficult to dispose of a raccoon. New York City law dictates that any captured raccoon must be killed in a humane fashion, because raccoons are known to carry rabies [purdue.edu]. But many trappers, as well as homeowners who do the job themselves, say they transport raccoons to parks or wilderness areas and set them free instead, because they don’t have the heart to do what is legally required. “Now, everybody is just releasing them," says one urban trapper. "They’re letting them go in any quiet place.” The problem, experts say, is that from there, the animals tend to wander into the nearest neighborhood. People see wooded areas as the animals’ natural habitat, where they belong. But these are city raccoons that tend to make a U-turn for civilization when dropped off in nature [raccoonatticguide.com], says Stanley D. Gehrt who has studied urban raccoons for two decades. “When you take them and drop them off in a natural environment, they’re going to look for buildings,” says Gehrt. “It’s what they’re used to.”

---

Original Submission