Police from the US state of Washington intervened after a woman reported that she was “forced to flee” when almost 100 raccoons appeared near her home. As it turned out, she had been feeding these animals for decades. The services explain why this should not be done.
The Kitsap County Sheriff's Office posted a video on social media on Monday from around the home of a Poulsbo resident. The material explains that a woman who has been feeding raccoons for 35 years reported being surrounded by almost 100 “hungry” animals. She called 911 after she was “forced to flee,” the social media post read. “The woman states that raccoons frequently surround her day and night, demanding food,” the sheriff's office said.
They warn against feeding raccoons
A spokesman for the Washington State Fish and Wildlife Service said authorities had put the woman in touch with wildlife services. The interested person herself said that she is already cooperating with a trapper who will help her, reported the CBS News website.
“Raccoons that are fed by humans often lose their fear of humans and may become aggressive when they are not fed as they expect,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service explains on its website. As added, feeding these animals also contributes to the concentration of their groups in a small area; This “may cause the spread of diseases and parasites.”
Raccoons from video released by the Kitsap County Sheriff's Officehttps://www.facebook.com/kitsapcountysheriff
Raccoon in Poland
The raccoon is a North American species that was deliberately introduced to Europe and introduced outside its natural range. “In Poland, it was bred on farms, and in 1945, probably about 100 individuals were released near Morąg” – we read in the information card of the species published on the gov.pl website. “Stable populations occur mainly in the western part of the country (Lubusz, West Pomeranian and Lower Silesian voivodeships), expansion to the rest of Poland is relatively slow. The occurrence of raccoons has also been found in north-eastern Poland, which may indicate that raccoons have already colonized almost the entire area country,” the document added.
Raccoon (Procyon lotor)chrisroosfotografie/adobe stock
Main photo source: https://www.facebook.com/kitsapcountysheriff