The city of Toronto and its abundant raccoons are enjoying a years-long hot-and-cold relationship. Raccoons are particularly prevalent in Canada’s biggest metropolis, and despite the havoc they tend to wreak, they’ve also become something of a mascot for the city.
Toronto’s raccoons don’t just go about their typical business of breaking into trash cans and garages, rummaging for food until they scurry away at the first sign of human presence. Toronto chaos agents have character, like the one resident Jenny Serwylo recently found eating bread in her kitchen that held eye contact with her as he finished his meal.
“Raccoons are just like people. Some are calm. Some are curious. And Some are just vicious a–holes,” wildlife control expert Derick McChesney told The Guardian. For obvious reasons, getting a head count on the creature population of Toronto is tough, but their presence is a big enough issue to demand the mayor’s attention.
In 2017, Mayor John Tory introduced a new, raccoon-proof trash bin to the city’s operations. Within a week, raccoons had begun tipping over and thus foiling the city’s attempts at keeping them out of the trash.
I love the smell of new raccoon-resistant green bins in the morning. https://t.co/Ml2CXIHYoX
— John Tory (@JohnTory) May 25, 2017
“They’ve bullied their way into the — and now we’ve just embraced them,” McChesney said.
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