Raccoons attack 2 Vancouver residents and their pets, hours apart at the same intersection | 24CA News

WARNING: This article accommodates particulars and pictures depicting animal assaults that some readers might discover disturbing.

Two Vancouver residents and their pets had been attacked by raccoons inside hours of one another late final week.

The first incident late Thursday evening noticed Emma Yendole endure lacerations that required a number of stitches on her leg.

Yendole and a good friend had been strolling their canine close to Arbutus Street and West First Avenue. Her good friend’s canine was reduce badly within the assault, in keeping with Yendole, whose personal canine escaped unscathed after a raccoon leapt at them from close by bushes.

A couple of hours later, round 1:30 a.m. Friday evening, Jake Moss was additionally wounded after being jumped by three raccoons on the similar intersection.

His canine, a Shih Tzu named Pingu, misplaced an eye fixed within the assault.

The Kitsilano residents are talking out, saying authorities aren’t doing sufficient to take care of the aggressive raccoons of their neighbourhood.

“It’s scary. Like, I don’t want to go down that block,” Yendole informed 24CA News. “It’s sad because I’ve lived in this neighborhood for 20 years. It’s always been OK.

“I’ve seen raccoons earlier than, many instances, and so they simply kinda skulk away. But this time it was vicious.”

Moss says he and his dog were attacked on three sides by the feral animals with “blood dripping throughout,” he described.

“At first, I picked them up and simply threw them just a few toes, pondering absolutely they’d cease at that time, however they did not,” he said.

“They simply stored coming again for extra. I did not suppose they’d do this.”

Both Moss and Yendole say one of their neighbours has been feeding the raccoons, which may have gotten habituated towards humans and led to the bold attacks — something previously seen with bear and coyote assaults on people.

John Gray, manager of animal services for the City of Vancouver, said there is an ongoing investigation into wildlife feeding at an address near where the attacks happened in Kitsilano, on Vancouver’s West Side.

“While we would not have a raccoon coverage, we do have a brand new wildlife feeding bylaw, which prohibits the feeding of wildlife wherever in Vancouver,” Gray said in a statement.

The official added that the city had received 527 raccoon-related complaints so far this year, with 1,016 complaints received in 2022.

Raccoons are protected under the provincial Wildlife Act. The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (BCCOS) says they protect the public from dangerous wildlife — such as bears and coyotes — but that raccoons fall outside their mandate.

“[The BCCOS] has not too long ago acquired a number of calls relating to aggressive raccoons within the Vancouver space,” a spokesperson said in a statement. 

“When notified about raccoons, conservation officers recommend the general public contact pest management firms and personal trappers.”

Experts say not to feed wildlife

Andrea Wallace, the wild animal welfare manager for the B.C. SPCA, said feeding feral animals causes more human-wildlife conflict.

“They’re anticipating folks to offer them meals and that is not factor,” she told Michelle Eliot, host of CBC’s B.C. Today. “It’s harmful for everybody.”

Wallace said as long as residents manage their garbage and keep food sources contained, they will be able to happily co-exist with raccoons — which are beneficial in controlling rodent populations and pollinating plants.

Bill Green, who owns Vancouver-based Raincity Pest Control, told 24CA News that female raccoons can get protective over their young ones during breeding season, which begins in spring.

He estimates that pest control services for raccoons could cost anywhere from $350 to around $600.

For his part, Moss says there are double standards at play when it comes to how conservation officers treat raccoons.

“We’ve killed coyotes for being in a park the place assaults occurred, after we knew that there was any individual feeding them,” he said. “If you reside in a $5,000,000 mansion and … a bear begins foraging for meals, they’re going to shoot it with a rifle.

“But vicious raccoons that have now preyed on multiple animals and attacked multiple people? They’re apparently not an issue.”