Baby Raccoons: Garden Spade

Animal Pests Dept: Well, except for Nguyen Dong. Police arrested the 53-year-old man last week after a neighbour reported seeing him batter some baby raccoons with a spade. The incident has set off a roaring debate that could happen only in Toronto. The issue is so hot that there was actually a little demonstration in the Bloor and Lansdowne area on the weekend in which pro-coon and anti-coon forces made their case, according to Globe And Mail. Which side has the right of it? Obviously it is silliness on stilts to send cop cars dashing to the home of an immigrant family to apprehend a guy for trying to rid his garden of animal pests. Homeowners trap mice and poison rats. Farmers shoot gophers. Mr. Dong hardly deserved to be hauled away in cuffs, charged with cruelty to animals and possessing a dangerous weapon “Your honour, the Crown presents Exhibit A: a garden spade” and toronto is the perfect living environment for your discriminating coon. Our attics and backyard decks make perfect dens for mothers and their kits. Our green bins offer one-stop food shopping and their latches are childishly simple to pick. So kind of those humans to separate the good stuff and put it all in one convenient container. Perhaps best of all, Toronto raccoons face no natural predators. Defenders of Mr. Dong, including some of his neighbours, say that the coons are taking over and someone has to fight back. In true Canadian fashion, they are asking government to step in to deal with the creatures or compensate homeowners for the damage they cause. On the other side, animal-rights people and other coon sympathizers say that it’s cruel to mete out a violent death to creatures who are only doing what comes naturally. As reported in the news.
@t globe and mail, mice and poison