New York children blinded and brain-damaged by contact with raccoon feces
New York playgrounds are on alert as two reported cases of a rare, fatal disease spread by raccoons has blinded a Brooklyn teen in one eye and left an infant with brain damage, reports the New York Daily News. Raccoon ringworm is a disease contracted through the animal's feces that attacks the nervous system. City health officials are advising parents to keep an eye on small children.
"The concern for me would be kids being kids," worried one mother. "When they're slightly out of sight, they're going to pick up something in the course of their normal behavior and put their filthy hands in their mouths."
Though there have not been any recently reported cases of raccoon ringworm disease in Michigan, Creature Control technicians warn homeowners against any direct contact with raccoons. They carry a tremendous amount of diseases, and it is always better to play it safe.
Human-raccoon conflict ends in death for old man
A story of human-raccoon conflict in Troy, MI. tragically ends in death for an elderly man. 92 year old Fred Braga of Troy tried to light a fire in his fireplace without knowing that a large raccoon had climbed into his chimney and gotten stuck int he flue. When he lit the fire, smoke and carbon monoxide poured back into the home, overcoming and killing Braga. This is another reason why animals in the home is a serious matter to be handled by animal removal professionals. Even though raccoons themselves are not normally hostile towards humans, their presence in the home can still result in unintended (and sometimes fatal) consequences (see the original story here).
Holland gas station deals with trapped raccoons
From the Holland Sentinel- Small animals often get trapped in industrial-size dumpsters behind restaurants, corner shops and gas stations. One thrifty local recycler, a pop-bottle-collecting Hollander, frequently encounters with these animals, especially raccoons. After liberating several trapped raccoons from a dumpster behind a BP gas station, the good samaritan alerted management.
“Once it was brought to our attention, the safety of our employees going out there was brought up,” said Dalane VanDenBerg, overseer of the retail division of Merle Boes, the Holland-based company that owns the store. She said the $200 to replace the dumpster with one that locks shut seemed a small price to pay in exchange for employee safety.
Leon, who declined to have his full name published, said he was excited to see how quickly the gas station took action on an issue that some business owner might dismiss as trivial. “Within a week’s time, she got right on it and took care of it,” Leon said. “You don’t often see that in the corporate world.”
Lt. Lee Hoeksema of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department said the key to avoiding nasty encounters with raccoons is to secure your trash, close all entrances to your garage, and above all — don’t feed them. “The best thing to do, is to close your doors,” he said. “If you put out food, they’ll come back. They are cute little animals but they are wild animals. They’re not pets.”
Contact Creature Control for effective raccoon removal in Holland, MI.
Jackson man pleads guilty to animal cruelty for allowing dog to kill raccoon
A Jackson, MI. man repeatedly found his garage in disarray last summer. After weeks of coming home to a disordered garage, he sent his dog in to investigate. The dog returned a moment later, dragging out a young raccoon. Then, while the man his his sons looked on, the dog proceeded to kill the young raccoon. The killing was recorded by one of the teen's cell phone.
The Jackson man is now facing misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, punishable by up to a year in jail, not more than a $2,000 fine and up to 300 hours of community service. The man, whose family is in the animal removal business, says the charges are "ridiculous." The coon had damaged a door, ate stored bird feed and knocked tools off a work bench; it was "raising hell" the Jackson man stated.
Chief Assistant Prosecutor Mark Blumer disagrees. He says that there are proper ways to conduct raccoon removal that do not involve killing and that wildlife control utilize mroe humane methods, such as trapping and exclusion. The prosecutor likened the case to dogfighting or cockfighting, both of which are illegal. who was charged with animal cruelty after letting his dog kill raccoons that were damaging his garage. The teens who filmed the episode are also facing charges in juvenile court. After contesting his innocence, the Jackson man pleaded guilty to the misdeamor charge in exchange for the dropping of another charge. Read the original article here.
Detroit man hunts raccoons to supplement retirement income; eats meat and sells the pelts
Meet Glemie Dean Beasely, Detroit raccoon hunter and salesman. Beasely, a 69 year old retired truck driver from Detroit, has been hunting raccoons for nearly 12 years to supplement his Social Security income. According to Beasely, carcasses go for $12 a piece and pelts from $10 each. Beasely is a licensed hunter and furrier who hunts coons, rabbits and squirrel for a clientele (mainly from the South) who consider such wild critters to be a delicacy.
Beasely believes in eating the things nature provides, a lesson he learned growing up on a farm in the south. He says, "Coon or rabbit. God put them there to eat. When men get hold of animals he blows them up and then he blows up. Fill 'em so full of chemicals and steroids it ruins the people. It makes them sick. Like the pigs on the farm. They's 3 months old and weighing 400 pounds. They's all blowed up. And the chil'ren who eat it, they's all blowed up. Don't make no sense."
Hunting is illegal within the Detroit city limits, so Beasely must hunt in areas outside Detroit, though Beasely suggests that he could eat quite well on the animals he could remove from his neighborhood. Although Beasely has refused to disclose his hunting grounds, local wildlife control experts and personnel of Washtenaw County recreation departments know that his usual hunting grounds are the fields and forests outside of Ann Arbor, Saline, Chelsea, and Dexter.
Beasely says that coon tastes like mutton or pork, though many claim it tastes more like opossum. What are Beasely's most recommended recipes for preparing coon? Roast coon with sweet potato, sausage and corn bread stuffing and roast marinated raccoon with liver and onion. Read more about Beasely here.
Raccoon causes power outage in Muskegon
Late one night in 2009, a raccoon somehow wandered into an electrical substation and threw the power out after getting into the electrical wiring. A massive power outage ensued, leaving 1,135 residents of Muskegon without electricity. An animal control crew was able to capture and remove the raccoon, but it took electrical crews half a day to get the power back on. Here is the original story from WZZM Channel 13 in Muskegon.
Raccoon control needed on set of mid-Michigan newscast
This is the now famous story of "Rusty the Raccoon", a coon who wandered onto the set of mid-Michigan news cast during weather report. The anchors initially tried to lure Rusty out of the studio, but the raccoon proved to be uninterested in the crew's attempts at animal removal. Instead of escaping into the woods outside the studio, the raccoon fled from the anchors and went off towards the producer's office. Click here to see the original video.
Grand Rapids, MI. loses power after raccoon invades substation
In the summer of 2010, a raccoon invaded an electrical substation in Grand Rapids. The raccoon damaged some important electrical components in the substation, leading to a power outage for 2,500 residents of the northeast side of Grand Rapids. Crew took a half day to get the power back on. There was no word on the status of the raccoon; presumably, Consumer's Energy contacted animal control professionals to hande removal of the raccoon.
Raccoon gets head stuck in a peanut butter jar
Strange news out of Holland, MI. The local Holland news reported a story of a raccoon found perched on a utility pole with its head stuck inside a peanut butter jar. After residents and local children watched in amazment for several hours, animal control officials finally showed up and got the raccoon down from the pole. The jar fell off its head as they removed the animal. Local children have named the raccoon "skippy." See the story here.
Raccoon attacks 6 year old girl in the suburbs of Grand Rapids
Six year old Samantha Ortiz was walking her bike down a trail in the suburbs of Grand Rapids with friends when she noticed a raccoon coming up behind her. She moved aside to allow the raccoon to pass, but to her astonishment to coon leapt upon her back and began snarling and biting her all over. Her friends ran away, leaving Samantha to fend for herself. After being bitten all over the back and hands, the raccoon went for her toes. At that point, Samantha threw one of her friend's bicylces on top of the raccoon and ran away home. Samantha was treated in Spectrum Health Butterworth in Grand Rapids and received rabies shots in the area of the bites. Wildlife control personnel do not know what happened to the raccoon or why it attacked, but Samantha has a theory: "Maybe he smelled chicken 'cause I didn't wash my hands after I ate." This story is another example of why you should never try to approach a raccoon - call animal removal professionals instead! | 
