US Woman Calls Sheriff After 100 Raccoons Swarm Home
A US woman was forced to call her local sheriff's office after up to 100 raccoons swarmed her home in the city of Poulsbo, Washington State.
The woman reported that she had to leave her home after 50 to 100 raccoons arrived and acted aggressively, said Kevin McCarty, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office. She told deputies she started feeding a family of raccoons around 35 years ago and it was fine until about six weeks earlier, when the number showing up went up to around 100.
"Somehow, the word got out in raccoon land and they all showed up to her house expecting a meal," McCarty told 9News.
Speaking to the Associated Press, McCarty said, "She said those raccoons were becoming increasingly more aggressive, demanding food, that they would hound her day and night — scratching at the outside of her home, at the door."
It was not clear what caused their numbers to increase suddenly.
McCarty said the problem was in some ways caused by the woman's actions. "They saw this as a food source now, so they kept coming back to it and they kept expecting food," he said.
Video from the sheriff's office shows raccoons moving around trees, and deputies who answered the call saw 50 to 100 of them, he added.
Bridget Mire, a spokesperson with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said that the agency asks people not to feed wild animals. Raccoons, for example, can carry diseases, and food can also attract dangerous animals such as coyotes and bears, according to Mire.
Mire said an agency specialist has met with the woman, who has stopped feeding the animals.
"The raccoons appear to have started dispersing now that they are no longer being fed, and we are glad for a positive outcome to this case," Mire wrote.
