MACROOM RACCOON DOOMED
‘INVASIVE SPECIES’ MAKES HOUSE CALLS IN MID CORK
MACROOM may well be known as the town that never reared a fool but this past week it has made headlines as the raccoon capital of Ireland after several locals reported seeing one in their garden.
One caller to the Neil Prendeville Show on Cork’s Red FM, Maureen Blight, told how she had put out food for wild cats that call to her house in Masseytown in Macroom, when she spotted a raccoon in the yard.
“We have a lot of wild cats around here but last Monday night there was a desperate racket so I put on the back outside light and there he was, up at the table eating the food I had put out for the cats,” said Maureen.
“He was sitting up on the table, eating the cat food so I swung the sweeping brush at him and he took off. He frightened the life out of me with the size of him.
“I’m only five foot high but he was big - I would certainly think he would be up to my hip – he had a big back up on him. National Parks and Wildlife called out the other night and they reckon he’s a male.”
Maureen’s daughter, Chloe, took some photos of the animal and the National Parks and Wildlife warden, who called to their house, confirmed that the animal was a raccoon which is native to North America.
“I reckon he may well be domesticated because he came into the yard another night that I had the light on. He was standing up on the table looking at myself and my daughter as we watched him,” said Maureen.
“Even the bright light wasn’t frightening him so we thought he might be an escaped pet. He has every bit of rubbish and all my recycling thrown around the garden. He’s fascinating to look at.”
Another caller to the Neil Prendeville Show, Louise, who also lives near Macroom, said she had also seen the raccoon when he called to her back door looking for food.
“Like Maureen, I too have wild cats outside my back and I always feed the cats that call. I turned on my back light one night to go out to my car and I saw this raccoon there looking at me,” she said.
“I ran back to the house and closed the back door – I nearly got a heart attack because you don’t expect to see a raccoon in your backyard; so I called my children to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating.
“They confirmed that he was a raccoon. So, we just sat and watched him, and he came over by the door and started eating the cat nuts out of the bowl with his two front paws - which have, like, fingers each.
“He was happy out, sitting there just eating away – so I opened the door then to try and take a picture and he stuck his head in the door – he’s definitely domesticated - so we just left him alone to eat away.”
Vincent Cashman of the Cork Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it sounded as if the raccoon may be an escaped pet given his lack of fear of humans and willingness to approach houses. “Generally speaking raccoons are not dangerous. These guys normally keep to themselves but this guy could be a hand reared raccoon and hand reared raccoons can be very affectionate,” said Mr Cashman.
“Even if he’s not hand reared but was kept in an enclosure, they would get relatively tame and they get used to their feeding times. They will go through the rubbish if they’re finding it hard to get food.”
Ms Blight contacted the Neil Prendeville Show on Tuesday to confirm that the raccoon was caught in a cage trap on Monday night by a ranger from the National Parks and Wildlife Service after he laid bait in the cage.
National Parks and Wildlife Ranger, Danny O’Keeffe confirmed to the Neil Prendeville Show that one of the service’s rangers had caught the raccoon and it would now be euthanized as it was non-native to Ireland.
“Raccoons are on a list of invasive species. Some pet farms have raccoons – these farms are tightly regulated and a raccoon would have to be micro-chipped and neutered so they couldn’t breed.
“We have no idea where this animal came from but there are raccoons about. There were two raccoons caught in Bandon last year and two were killed in Clare as well this year so they are around.
“This one is going to be humanely put down – that doesn’t suit everybody but getting these animals out of circulation is what we want to do because re-homing isn’t an option because they can escape again.”