‘Drunk’ raccoons spotted in Ottawa

Fermented berries, distemper possible causes

Residents of an Ottawa suburb have been reporting sightings of raccoons acting as though they’d had one too many.

First reported by the CBC, neighbours in Stittsville are sharing images and videos of raccoons lying around and acting very lethargic — and some believe they’re getting drunk off of fermented berries.

Emily Rodgers told the National Post she was about to let her one-year-old son play in the backyard when she came across one of these raccoons after coming back from a weekend trip.

“At first I thought it might be dead, but then I saw it was kind of moving. I thought maybe it was injured,” said her neighbour, Susan Mayo, who could see the animal from her yard. “It would put up its head occasionally and look around, and sort of flop over and seemingly go back to sleep.”

Rodgers had heard reports of raccoons in her area acting strangely from an online community group she is part of. After sharing photos of the animal, commenters said they believed a local berry grown commonly in the area was to blame. The berries would fall to the ground and begin to ferment, they said, and raccoons would start feeling the effects after getting their fill.

Rodgers said she doesn’t have a berry plant in her yard, but one of her neighbours does, which seeps into her own.

She let the raccoon be for a few hours, but it stayed where it was.

Worrying about the safety of her young child, she decided to turn to the city for help. City officials had an officer at her door within 15 minutes. He took the raccoon and placed it in a cage, to be sent to the humane society.

Ryan Rainville, general manager of Skedaddle Humane Wildlife Control, said his company had received a few calls in the region regarding raccoons acting strangely — one apparently fell into a fence.

But while Rainville said the tale of raccoons getting intoxicated from fermented berries might be more interesting, they might have been suffering from a contagious disease — distemper.

According to the Toronto Wildlife Centre’s website, distemper is a disease that can affect raccoons, skunks, and dogs, although they say most dogs are vaccinated for it. It can cause them to appear sleepy and lethargic, appearing “drunk” and losing balance, and approach people with a lack of aggression.

Rainville said distemper isn’t usually reported in the Ottawa region, but could possibly have come in the area from southern Ontario or Quebec.