We recently took
a holiday to Vancouver, Canada. Our hotel was within walking distance
of Stanley Park, a 1,000 acre park, surrounded nearly all the way by
ocean. On our first night we walked to the Aquarium, and on the way
we saw a family of raccoons, a mother and her two youngsters, raiding a garbage can.
The following
day we walked around Stanley Park and sure enough we encountered more
raccoons, including another mother with three youngsters and an adult
who was missing a tail. There was a man feeding them what
appeared to be fried chicken. A short time later a woman arrived to
feed them grapes and cat food. Other people fed them cookies.
To note, I am aware that grapes can be toxic to dogs, but not sure how they affect raccoons.
We spoke to many
of the people who were feeding the raccoons and many said they made daily trips to feed the raccoons and
other animals in the park. The people said that the park's people did not
like them feeding the animals. They also told us that the parks
people trapped and killed many animals every year.
Raccoons normally would eat fish (there are ponds in the park), crabs (from the ocean), insects, worms, as well as nuts, berries, and eggs.
We did not
confirm if the parks people did trap and kill raccoons or not, but
clearly there was a dilemma.
The parks people
want the animals to be “wild” and to fend for themselves, feeding
them can cause problems as their fear of people can turn them into
pests. Normally raccoons are nocturnal but these were out in the day.
If one bit
a person there would be a rabies panic. The people felt terrible
that the animals were being killed to control their populations, so
were thinking that feeding them would mean animals would not be killed. One persons said they thought the raccoons were being killed to stop them from eating the goose and duck eggs, but we also heard that duck and goose populations were being controlled too (supposedly people were shaking their eggs so they would not hatch).
Additionally a
problem was occurring in that some people were feeding very unhealthy
foods (cookies) to the animals. The people said they have gotten in
trouble many times for feeding the animals but refused to stop.
I am not
suggesting people do feed wild raccoons, however clearly some people
are not going to stop doing so. It would be better if the
people simply fed the animals a better diet, and did so later in the
day so the animals could live more naturally.
Raccoons can eat
cat food, ferret food, most vegetables (not onions, garlic,
avocados), eggs, and fish. They should not have cookies, greasy
foods, salty foods, and so forth.
Maybe the
park's people could do the same as is done in some areas to control
feral cats, they could trap the animals, spay or neuter some, and
release them. Perhaps this is already being done and people are just
not aware. Or the park's people could arrange for the raccoons to be
relocated to wild areas, or to zoos.
As tourists we enjoyed seeing these animals, and hope they continue to inhabit areas of Stanley Park.
Click here to see more pictures of the Raccoons in Vancouver's Stanley Park.
