Hungry Transient Fatally Wounded in Trashcan Showdown in Rural Ontario

photograph provided by Kelly Shannonhouse Lalonde 

of KKIA (Kelly Knows It All) News

6 June, 2012 – An unidentified male raccoon was fatally wounded as the result of a gunshot in a rural area just east of Orleans, Ontario late Wednesday evening. Though only one raccoon was seen at the scene, it is believed the incident may be gang related. Several raccoons have been known to frequent the area in years past, and have had multiple run-ins with the town’s residents that have ended in violence. Experts say that The Coons, as they are known locally, are aggressively pursuing territorial rights in a historically established area.

“This is a quiet community. It always has been,” says one man whose family and ancestors have lived there for close to one hundred years. “But these Coons are a menace. We can’t just stand by and let them continue to wreak havoc in our fields.”

At the residence where the tragic events unfolded, several people were gathered inside the house for a birthday celebration when they claim to have seen the raccoon dart past their window. Some of them raced outside to discourage the Coon from instigating any trouble, while one man grabbed his gun. By the time they’d gone outside, the Coon was nowhere to be seen. Awhile later, back inside the home, they heard rattling and clanging sounds outside the house, near the trashcans. One man opened the door and yelled at the Coon. The Coon looked at him, but ignored the man’s demand and continued to rifle through the garbage. The other people at the scene confirmed that they could also see the Coon licking remnants of tuna out of a can and looking directly at the man when he shouted. The Coon stood his ground.

“It was clear that Coon wasn’t going anywhere, no matter how loud [the man] shouted,” said one woman, the owner of the home. “I knew [her husband] had his gun and I yelled at him to get him!” She said she was not sure if she would have been able to shoot something herself, but that next time she might try.

The man in possession of the gun had gone outside. When the Coon saw the man come around the corner of the house, he made a sudden movement. The man claims his territory been threatened and took a shot at the Coon. He missed, hitting the ground close to the prowler instead.

“That scared him and he started to run, so I knew I didn’t have much time. I shot again and hit him that time. He exploded—blood sprayed everywhere—and then he ran off into the bush,” the man said.

“I heard this sound outside. It was like [the man] had thrown a glass against something and shattered it,” said an 8-year-old boy who was at the scene. “And then I realized he had shot his gun. That he had shot the raccoon.”

One 6-year-old girl close to the family told reporters what she’d heard about the events. “Yesterday, it was [the man’s] birthday...and he was so happy, he shot a raccoon!”

The Coon’s body has not yet been found, and a search is not expected to recommence. Investigators of the scene report a large amount of blood pooled near the trashcan where the Coon was shot, along with dismembered flesh, hair, and blood strewn across the ground and stuck to the vehicles that were close by.

“With that much blood loss, there is no way that Coon can still be alive,” says an expert upon examining the remains. “He probably hid in the bush and died pretty quick.”

Gang experts say a search most likely would not turn up any of the other members associated with the unidentified murder victim. Though The Coons are known to gather in small groups of 2-4 males, the ties of these groups are quite loose, and members change regularly. They do attend larger gatherings, usually at the local watering holes, where they will meet up with other males as well as females working in the sex trade. However, during violent confrontations, the gangs will scatter and disappear. Since most of the petty crimes they are involved in are nocturnal, it is very difficult to locate and identify individuals of a gang once it has dissolved. The members will find new gangs to join. Experts in raccoon gangs believe the prowler was on the property in search of food and may not have had any ill intent.

“There is no evidence there were any more gang members present, and no signs of violence against the people in the house. It was likely a case of one member suffering nutritional withdrawal symptoms that couldn’t get to his food source. He might have been in an altered frame of mind—we’ll never know for sure unless the body turns up and we can conduct an autopsy. At this time, it appears to be a case of breaking and entering and theft. It’s fortunate that no one else was seriously harmed.”

“The streets are a tough place for these kits to grow up,” says a former wildlife rehabilitator. “Many of these raccoons grow up with absent fathers, and their mothers kick them out of the home when they’re just a few months old. Some of the fortunate kits will be allowed to stay in the home their first winter, but that tends to be more the adolescent females than the males. That’s why these young raccoons join gangs. They see the gang as a form of protection, and think that the only way for them to survive the streets riddled with other gangs and predators is to establish and defend territories. What else do we, as a society, expect them to do? When they're older, they can establish their own territories. But as adolescents, they’ve nowhere to live and have to scavenge for food in order to survive in an overpopulated world. People like to blame the local wildlife, but we’re just as violent. We’re just as defensive of our territories—plus, we are constantly expanding ours. We need to find a way to feed these poor creatures, house them. Violence is not the answer. It only perpetuates the problem.”

Studies have shown that in areas of high mortality rates among raccoons, the animals will get pregnant at younger ages, and produce more offspring per pregnancy than their counterparts living in more tolerable conditions, cites the rehabilitator, formerly of Florida, U.S.A.

When questioned why he shot the Coon, the resident said, “Those Coons cost me close to $8000.00 a year in crop. They destroy several of the outside rows of corn on my property.”

He stated he has no remorse for his actions. Authorities say based on the evidence, it appears he was within his rights to fire his weapon when the raccoon did not heed the warning shouts and promptly leave the property. There will be no charges laid.

Photographs provided by the local chapter of RHU (Raccoon Huggers United). "We'd like to share these personal photos of raccoons we've known in memory of the unidentified raccoon that was gunned down in the prime of his scavenging earlier this week. It was a senseless tragedy. At some time in his life, that raccoon was someone's kit, someone's friend. Our thoughts are with those who are missing him today," says the represenative of the chapter.