‘Defeat is not an option’ in our waste war with raccoons, mayor vows (with a smile),
Larger container will feature a dial that raccoons can’t open
Striking a Churchillian tone, Mayor John Tory vowed that Toronto’s big new green bins will vanquish the invading army of masked marauders.
“We have left no stone unturned in our fight against the Raccoon Nation,” declared Tory, adding the city consulted an animal behaviourist and tested the new bins in local backyards. “Defeat is not an option.” A video of that testing, featuring a cooljazz score as raccoons try every which way to get into the new bin — and fail — became an instant viral hit after the city released it Thursday morning.
City council will next month consider awarding a $31-million contract to California-based Rehrig Pacific Co. to make compost bins double the size of the current model so they can be hoisted by trucks’ automated lifters.
Instead of the silver latch that raccoons easily pop by knocking over the bin, the proposed new model features a turn-dial that locks the lid closed. “We are ready. We are armed. We are motivated,” a grinning Tory told reporters.
Suzanne MacDonald, a York University animal behaviourist, put rotisserie chickens in bin prototypes and observed raccoons failing to open all three.
“We think they’re evil geniuses,” she said of the critters.
“They are smart, but we have big brains and they have small brains. If they get into our garbage, it’s our fault.”
Raccoons have little hands, each with five little fingers but no opposable thumbs, meaning they cannot grasp and turn a knob or dial.
While politicians and city officials were calling the new bins “raccoon proof,” MacDonald, an expert on the animals, will only go as far as “raccoon resistant.
“I’m a scientist; I don’t think anything is absolute. I’m not saying there will be a giant raccoon genius in the future,” she said, laughing, “but for now it’s ‘resistant.’”
The city staff recommendation to approve Rehrig Pacific’s bid was passed almost unanimously by the public works committee.
The holdout, Councillor Anthony Perruzza, did not like the fact that once the new bins start rolling out in 2016, residents will no longer be able to use the current, smaller model.
Some councillors worry the bin’s bulk will be problematic for residents without garages and that the locking knob will be tough for some to turn, especially in the cold.
Members ignored a plea by Quebec-based IPL Plastics to redo the tender process. The firm, which is supplying Peel Region’s bins, argued Toronto staff erred in waiting to say the IPL bid prepared in 2013 — and resubmitted when the tender finally went out — did not meet technical specifications. MacDonald said Torontonians don’t have to worry about raccoons going hungry — they found food before there were green bins — but it will be interesting to see if the new bins thin their population.
That won’t be the case in MacDonald’s backyard — she gave her furry testers the chickens.