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City May Be Required to Trap Raccoons — Brooklynian

City May Be Required to Trap Raccoons

joyr
joyr
edited November -1 in Windsor Terrace / Kensington
A bill requiring the Department of Health to trap raccoons seen anywhere in New York City was introduced by the City Council last Wednesday.

A bill requiring the Department of Health to trap raccoons seen anywhere in New York City was introduced by the City Council last Wednesday. It was then referred to the council's Committee on Health. The bill, Int. 0319-2010, is titled "A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York in relation to the removal of raccoons."

According to the Daily News, "the city Health Department would be encouraged to humanely release the critters. Under current guidelines, most trapped raccoons are euthanized because they can carry rabies."

The raccoon situation has been discussed by residents at Albemarle Neighborhood Association meetings. Our City Councilmember, Brad Lander, is one of the six co-sponsors of the bill. The main sponsor is Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley of Queens.

Comments

  • bohuma
    bohuma
    Given that bats also carry rabies and are far more numerous than raccoons, I really don't see the point in this. Wouldn't it be better to trap, vaccinate and release? They could eartag or microchip the raccoons at the same time so they could keep track of which ones had been vaccinated. Trapping and killing of raccoons would be about as successful in reducing raccoon numbers as it has been for feral cats. If the raccoon population is getting out of hand (and I haven't seen any evidence of that) we could add neuter to the program.

    This is probably someone's pet peeve and they've finally gotten a council person to take up their cause. Hopefully it will die in committee.
  • modsquad2.0
    modsquad2.0

    Subject: Re: City May Be Required to Trap Raccoons

    Under current guidelines, most trapped raccoons are euthanized because they can carry rabies
    Seems like a no brainer, rabies or not. I miss mine.
    image
    self portrait
  • salix
    salix
    Yesterday's NY Times article was (inadvertantly I think) funny in quoting a Queens resident who found the critters scarey, not cute like in the cartoons. Yes, they are WILD animals.
    There has been a rise in the raccoon population, but that may just be part of a larger ebb and flow cycle. If people contained their garbage, did not put out food for feral cats, and otherwise made the city less hospitable for the little bandits, the populaiton would decline. Vaccination is a good idea & can be carried out with the vaccine bait used for over 2 decades in Europe and, as I understand it, used to contain the Central Park rabies outbreak this winter. Perhaps the easiest thing would be for community groups to purchase the vaccine for the city to distribute in their area.
    Catch & release just transfer the problem to somone/where else which is not good public health policy.
  • joyr
    joyr
    Opinions pro and con and suggestions for modifying the bill can be sent to your City Councilmember. http://council.nyc.gov/html/members/members.shtml
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