Posted on 12/20/2014 4:53:23 AM PST by Gamecock
West Harlem residents say a posse of raccoons has taken over their neighborhoods and in some cases even broken into their homes.
“These things think they live here and they actually walk in if you leave an opening,” said resident Lauren Flanigan.
Pictures from residents showed a raccoon making itself comfortable on the patio of a West Harlem home, and even coming up to the door. And that raccoon was not alone, residents said.
“They came in the kitchen, and they’re not that friendly, and they also pushed the window screens in,” Flanigan told CBS2’s Tracee Carrasco.
“They climb over the fences to the next backyard and they keep going from backyard to backyard, so that’s why it’s not one homeowner’s problem. It’s everybody’s problem,” Maria Freeman said.
Residents complained that the raccoons wreak havoc in the streets daily, and believe they make the trek from Central Park. They want the city to do something because the problem is only getting worse.
“These raccoons don’t behave normally. They’re out during the day time when they should be sleeping. They are not afraid of humans. They’re aggressive,” Flanigan said.
Residents are now asking the city to step in and pay for a trap-and-release service to get rid of the raccoons before mating season starts in January.
In a statement the city said they are “staunchly committed to addressing all constituent requests from New Yorkers across the five boroughs, including animal related complaints and inquiries.”
Residents say help can’t come soon enough.
Fight-the-urge-to-comment!
Strange. I have an old 45 year old “hunting license” somewhere that says you can’t bait them with pork chops or cheap wine. Yes, it is one of those silly comic cartoons handed out around construction sites.
It’s winter, the pelts will be prime and they are worth quite a bit of money! A person can live well off cleaning out these areas of raccoons.
OH WAIT! They tried that 50 years ago in NYC to get rid of RATS!, that is paying a bounty on rat tails. The people were so lazy there was not a single rat tail turned in.
Work requires effort.
Marshmallows! Raccoons love marshmallows. They are the standard bait for live traps.
But then, raccoons love anything from dead chickens to dog food.
The City of New York should ban all animals with opposable thumbs excepting police officers and the mayor’s security detail.
Paws Up Don’t Loot!
They're coming from Central Park and have probably always been around.
West Harlem is currently undergoing a rapid gentrification. Wealthy whites are moving in and displacing the minorities who have made Harlem their home for generations. They're building upscale restaurants and shopping areas, sending rents through the roof and, apparently, complaining about the raccoons.
This is slightly off-topic, but I've heard that Ballistol works well to attract mice to mouse traps. That stuff has a distinctive smell, which some people find unpleasant (but others like it).
They are native to the parks and are probably overflowing their habitat.
I have no sympathy with these Noo Yawkas.
The south side of my place boarders on hundreds and hundreds of square miles of Rocky Mountain forests. I have frequent visits from coyotes, occasional visits from wolves and cougars, and, now and then, a black bear will stop by.
Those are the ones I worry about, on behalf of the four-legged members of my household. The elk, white tail, and mule deer are only a menace to the greenery.
Excellent movie, by the way.
My dad was the Chief ranger at Stoneycreek Metropark from about 1980 - '93. Myself and a few other guys used to play their golf course every other Sunday and one year there was an outbreak of that distemper virus that coons get. One Sunday we saw 6 coons wandering listlessly on the course and a couple on the park's roadway.
Dad said he and the other rangers would shoot them when they came upon them then have the maintenance guys haul them away.
Evidently it's cyclical and that's nature's way of controlling the coons when their populations grow out of control.......
That is just obscene. Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett are rolling over. Could you image Al Sharpton as a pioneer? Not me.
Those aggressive raccoons all look like Al Sharpton clones.
Poetic justice at work.
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