Solution to city's raccoon problem at your fork tip?
By Mike Strobel ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, August 18, 2014 04:55 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014 05:12 PM EDT
TORONTO - Just got back from Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron, where the raccoons are law-abiding and work for a living.
Likely you’ve seen those sleek healthy buggers chewing on clams, scarfing down acorns and panning for crayfish a respectful distance from your cottage or camp.
A Toronto raccoon, on the other hand, wouldn’t recognize a clam unless it’s smeared in stale linguine. Crayfish? Wouldn’t know one if it bit him on the nose.
These are not raccoons as God intended them.
So put your paws together and applaud Toronto Councillor David Shiner’s plea for city hall to do something about the scruffy little bandits skulking in our shadows.
Raccoons, Councillor Shiner advises, are getting to be a nuisance. I’m shocked — shocked! — to hear this. He says their population is “exploding” and wants city staff to study ways to curb them.
Of course, if we can get Toronto’s 100,000 raccoons to explode, the problem is solved, though messily. No such luck.
“Raccoons are damaging property, are out wandering through backyards before sunset, are unafraid of humans and nothing can be left outside,” says Shiner, who must have just come out of hibernation or something. Mayor Rob Ford, not long out of rehab, has joined Shiner’s call and wants to kick some raccoon ***.
Well, why bother bureaucrats with such trifles. They are busy enough battling other pests, such as car drivers and taxpayers.
Besides, it’s simple. The answer to the raccoon question can be summed up in two words: Raccoon stew. Here’s my favourite recipe, Mississippi style:
One raccoon, deboned, 1 large Vidalia onion, diced, 3 cloves garlic, 3 turnips, diced, 2 stalks of celery, 2 lbs small potatoes, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1 cup sour cream.
Tastes like chicken.
(Editor’s note: Strobel! Are you nuts? The Humane Society just called. They’re steamed. They’re gonna boycott!)
But, boss! Raccoon meat is a staple in parts of the world. A typical five-pound Scarborough raccoon, brined and simmered for six hours, can feed five adult humans. Imagine how many homeless people we could nourish with, for instance, BBQ raccoon:
4-6 lbs raccoon chunks, 1 cup red wine, 3 bay leaves, 1 tbsp paprika ...
(Strobel! Cut it out! I’m getting queasy. Think up something else!)
Alrighty, how about roast raccoon with sweet potato stuffing: One dressed raccoon, 1 cup seedless raisins, 1/2 cup soft bread crumbs, 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes, 3/4 cups sliced apples ...
(That’s disgusting!)
Raccoon fricassee?
(Stop! Blecch!)
Whipped raccoon tart for dessert?
(Retching sounds.)
Clearly, turning our biggest varmint problem into a veritable feast has issues. The Humane Society is twitchy that Shiner has even braised, I mean raised, the raccoon issue.
But if a humane cull is needed to trim our booming raccoon population, we might as well eat ’em.
Suggestions on city hall’s website include sprinkling your lawn with pure soap flakes, installing bright lights (so the scallywags can better see your garbage?).
“Play a loud radio tuned to an all-talk station,” the city site suggests if they’ve moved into your shed or attic or games room.
They’re taking over. Even the rats are complaining.
The way it’s going, you’ll soon wake up to find a raccoon snoring on the next pillow.
So let’s get behind Councillor Shiner’s raccoon crusade.
Send him your ideas — and recipes. Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker drily suggests that we spay and neuter Toronto raccoons, though good luck getting them to sit still long enough. Raccoons aren’t stupid. They’ve been compared to macaques for intelligence. Word’ll get around.
Or we could simply ask them to leave town.
But I can hear their answer. The city site says raccoon lingo includes “purrs, whimpers, snarls, growls, hisses, screams and whinnies.”
Aha! That’s it! We’ll invite them all to a city council meeting. They’ll think they’re home.
Raccoons (QMI Agency files)
Solution to city's raccoon problem at your fork tip? | Strobel | Toronto & GTA |
'Serious raccoon problem' in Toronto: Mayor Rob Ford
By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief
First posted: Monday, August 18, 2014 10:09 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014 06:44 PM EDT
TORONTO - Mayor Rob Ford says the city has a “serious raccoon problem.”
Ford recounted his “standoffs” with the critters outside his Etobicoke home and made it clear he’s no fan of raccoons.
“Yeah, I’ve had some run-ins with raccoons,” Ford said Monday. “It’s a serious problem.”
“I’ve had some standoffs with some raccoons, seriously. They just look at you, they’re not scared anymore.”
The mayor’s comments came after the licensing committee voted to have city staff report back on possible ways to deal with Toronto’s raccoons. Staff will be reporting back on raccoons and other wildlife issues next spring.
While Toronto Animal Services said they have seen no evidence of the city’s raccoon population “exploding,” Ford maintained the city has a “serious raccoon problem.”
“Some people say, ‘Well, you know we should have the right to euthanize them.’ That’s not my call,” Ford said.
“It’s a severe problem we’re having in the city, it is only getting worse. They’re getting braver and braver by the day. I’m not a big raccoon fan, I’ll tell you that straight up.”
Ford said he’s open to the city finding some way to control the raccoon population.
“Those little critters have become brave,” he said. “It’s funny now, you come back to my place.”
Councillor David Shiner requested the raccoon report in a letter to the licensing committee after hearing from residents about the “explosive growth of the raccoon population in the city.”
“Raccoons seem to have a lot more rights than the residents in the city,” Shiner told the Toronto Sun. “They’re tearing into people’s roofs, they’re tearing up their lawns, they’re knocking over their garbage bins.”
Shiner said he wants staff to outline “some ways to deal with the problem.”
“Residents have rights as well and in this case the provincial legislation doesn’t seem to give the residents any rights to deal with the problem that is really starting to cost them a lot,” he said.
“Raccoons aren’t afraid now and (are) no longer nocturnal … an issue like this, you should be able to have a little bit of control over it.
“They have no fear anymore, they’re not afraid of people,” he added.
Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker said the city has always had a “huge” raccoon population.
“They’re never going to go away,” De Baeremaeker said. “Raccoons were here first.”
Toronto Animal Services can’t say for sure but the city does have numbers on how many dead or injured raccoons staff encounter.
Here’s a rundown of the city’s raccoon numbers:
2014 (up to Aug. 17):
'Serious raccoon problem' in Toronto: Mayor Rob Ford | Toronto & GTA | News | To
By Mike Strobel ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Monday, August 18, 2014 04:55 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014 05:12 PM EDT
TORONTO - Just got back from Manitoulin Island on Lake Huron, where the raccoons are law-abiding and work for a living.
Likely you’ve seen those sleek healthy buggers chewing on clams, scarfing down acorns and panning for crayfish a respectful distance from your cottage or camp.
A Toronto raccoon, on the other hand, wouldn’t recognize a clam unless it’s smeared in stale linguine. Crayfish? Wouldn’t know one if it bit him on the nose.
These are not raccoons as God intended them.
So put your paws together and applaud Toronto Councillor David Shiner’s plea for city hall to do something about the scruffy little bandits skulking in our shadows.
Raccoons, Councillor Shiner advises, are getting to be a nuisance. I’m shocked — shocked! — to hear this. He says their population is “exploding” and wants city staff to study ways to curb them.
Of course, if we can get Toronto’s 100,000 raccoons to explode, the problem is solved, though messily. No such luck.
“Raccoons are damaging property, are out wandering through backyards before sunset, are unafraid of humans and nothing can be left outside,” says Shiner, who must have just come out of hibernation or something. Mayor Rob Ford, not long out of rehab, has joined Shiner’s call and wants to kick some raccoon ***.
Well, why bother bureaucrats with such trifles. They are busy enough battling other pests, such as car drivers and taxpayers.
Besides, it’s simple. The answer to the raccoon question can be summed up in two words: Raccoon stew. Here’s my favourite recipe, Mississippi style:
One raccoon, deboned, 1 large Vidalia onion, diced, 3 cloves garlic, 3 turnips, diced, 2 stalks of celery, 2 lbs small potatoes, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 1 cup sour cream.
Tastes like chicken.
(Editor’s note: Strobel! Are you nuts? The Humane Society just called. They’re steamed. They’re gonna boycott!)
But, boss! Raccoon meat is a staple in parts of the world. A typical five-pound Scarborough raccoon, brined and simmered for six hours, can feed five adult humans. Imagine how many homeless people we could nourish with, for instance, BBQ raccoon:
4-6 lbs raccoon chunks, 1 cup red wine, 3 bay leaves, 1 tbsp paprika ...
(Strobel! Cut it out! I’m getting queasy. Think up something else!)
Alrighty, how about roast raccoon with sweet potato stuffing: One dressed raccoon, 1 cup seedless raisins, 1/2 cup soft bread crumbs, 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes, 3/4 cups sliced apples ...
(That’s disgusting!)
Raccoon fricassee?
(Stop! Blecch!)
Whipped raccoon tart for dessert?
(Retching sounds.)
Clearly, turning our biggest varmint problem into a veritable feast has issues. The Humane Society is twitchy that Shiner has even braised, I mean raised, the raccoon issue.
But if a humane cull is needed to trim our booming raccoon population, we might as well eat ’em.
Suggestions on city hall’s website include sprinkling your lawn with pure soap flakes, installing bright lights (so the scallywags can better see your garbage?).
“Play a loud radio tuned to an all-talk station,” the city site suggests if they’ve moved into your shed or attic or games room.
They’re taking over. Even the rats are complaining.
The way it’s going, you’ll soon wake up to find a raccoon snoring on the next pillow.
So let’s get behind Councillor Shiner’s raccoon crusade.
Send him your ideas — and recipes. Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker drily suggests that we spay and neuter Toronto raccoons, though good luck getting them to sit still long enough. Raccoons aren’t stupid. They’ve been compared to macaques for intelligence. Word’ll get around.
Or we could simply ask them to leave town.
But I can hear their answer. The city site says raccoon lingo includes “purrs, whimpers, snarls, growls, hisses, screams and whinnies.”
Aha! That’s it! We’ll invite them all to a city council meeting. They’ll think they’re home.
Raccoons (QMI Agency files)
Solution to city's raccoon problem at your fork tip? | Strobel | Toronto & GTA |
'Serious raccoon problem' in Toronto: Mayor Rob Ford
By Don Peat ,City Hall Bureau Chief
First posted: Monday, August 18, 2014 10:09 AM EDT | Updated: Monday, August 18, 2014 06:44 PM EDT
TORONTO - Mayor Rob Ford says the city has a “serious raccoon problem.”
Ford recounted his “standoffs” with the critters outside his Etobicoke home and made it clear he’s no fan of raccoons.
“Yeah, I’ve had some run-ins with raccoons,” Ford said Monday. “It’s a serious problem.”
“I’ve had some standoffs with some raccoons, seriously. They just look at you, they’re not scared anymore.”
The mayor’s comments came after the licensing committee voted to have city staff report back on possible ways to deal with Toronto’s raccoons. Staff will be reporting back on raccoons and other wildlife issues next spring.
While Toronto Animal Services said they have seen no evidence of the city’s raccoon population “exploding,” Ford maintained the city has a “serious raccoon problem.”
“Some people say, ‘Well, you know we should have the right to euthanize them.’ That’s not my call,” Ford said.
“It’s a severe problem we’re having in the city, it is only getting worse. They’re getting braver and braver by the day. I’m not a big raccoon fan, I’ll tell you that straight up.”
Ford said he’s open to the city finding some way to control the raccoon population.
“Those little critters have become brave,” he said. “It’s funny now, you come back to my place.”
Councillor David Shiner requested the raccoon report in a letter to the licensing committee after hearing from residents about the “explosive growth of the raccoon population in the city.”
“Raccoons seem to have a lot more rights than the residents in the city,” Shiner told the Toronto Sun. “They’re tearing into people’s roofs, they’re tearing up their lawns, they’re knocking over their garbage bins.”
Shiner said he wants staff to outline “some ways to deal with the problem.”
“Residents have rights as well and in this case the provincial legislation doesn’t seem to give the residents any rights to deal with the problem that is really starting to cost them a lot,” he said.
“Raccoons aren’t afraid now and (are) no longer nocturnal … an issue like this, you should be able to have a little bit of control over it.
“They have no fear anymore, they’re not afraid of people,” he added.
Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker said the city has always had a “huge” raccoon population.
“They’re never going to go away,” De Baeremaeker said. “Raccoons were here first.”
**************
How many raccoons live in Toronto?Toronto Animal Services can’t say for sure but the city does have numbers on how many dead or injured raccoons staff encounter.
Here’s a rundown of the city’s raccoon numbers:
2014 (up to Aug. 17):
- Dead - 1,574
- Injured or In Distress - 619
- Euthanized - 405
- Dead - 4,398
- Injured or In Distress - 2,455
- Euthanized - No number provided
- Dead - 4802
- Injured or In Distress - 2,251
- Euthanized - 1,765
'Serious raccoon problem' in Toronto: Mayor Rob Ford | Toronto & GTA | News | To
