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Some may have thought my reaction yesterday to the alleged "raccoon attack" in Central Park to be somewhat visceral and over the top.
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There is reason for that. Specifically, bad memory.
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The incident reminded (subconsciously) of one that happened in 1998, when I was doing cat adoptions out of Petco on East 86th Street in Manhattan.
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It is incident that would later serve as one of the reasons I elected to move away from cat and dog rescues and adoptions and back to general animal advocacy.
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I can remember the incident like it was yesterday:
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A volunteer and I had just arrived to the store on a Saturday morning and were busy setting up cats and cages.
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From the corner of my eye, I noticed a woman standing by the cages and curiously watching.
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"Are you interested in possibly adopting a cat?" I asked.
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"Perhaps," the woman answered while avoiding my eyes. "I am just looking to see what you have."
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It was clear the woman did not want to engage in conversation, so I returned to working on set-up.
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I placed a white cat named, "Snowy" into one of the cages.
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Snowy had recently been rescued off the streets of Brooklyn by my friend and volunteer, Judy. After being completely vetted and spayed, Judy assured me Snowy was healthy, social and friendly enough to be shown for adoption and had the papers to verify health and vaccinations.
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But, Snowy was quite stressed from the long trip from Brooklyn and being placed in strange, unfamiliar surroundings.
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When first put into the cage, Snowy retreated to a corner and hissed (a sign of fear in a cat.)
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Since many "first time" cats are initially nervous when put into cages, I did not think too much of it and continued with Judy, to set up our display and remove other cats from carriers.
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It was then I noticed the somewhat strange, furtive woman suddenly approach Snowy's cage, stick her hand through the bars and poke Snowy in the back.
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Startled, the white cat suddenly turned around and jabbed her paw out, barely catching the woman's pointer finger.
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"Oh, I am so sorry," I said to the woman as she walked over to me holding out her finger.
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There was a tiny, pin prick of blood where the edge of Snowy's claw had jabbed and caught the finger.
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"Do you want some alcohol and a Band-Aid for that?" I asked out of form and politeness. In truth, the injury appeared to be no more serious than a splinter pulled from a foot after a walk on a boardwalk. Almost immediately, it stopped bleeding.
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"Oh, no, no." the woman replied, nervously chuckling. "It's nothing."
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"Is there anything we can do? Are you still interested in looking at or possibly adopting a cat?"
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"No, thank you." the woman responded. "I think I have seen enough for the day."
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She then left Petco and I did not think any more about the incident. There was too much to do and too many cats to help settle down before people arrived to the store for possible adoptions.
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But, the next morning, the woman arrived to the store again. This time, her finger completely encased in heavy bandaging.
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Shocked when seeing the woman's wrapped finger, I asked, "What happened?"
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The woman stated she went to the hospital the night before because her finger "became infected."
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"Do you have proof of the cat's rabies and other shots?" the woman asked adamantly. "Do you have insurance?"
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I pulled out Snowy's vaccination papers, but when hearing that I did not have insurance, the woman demanded to speak with the Petco store manager.
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Because she had been involved in an "aggression incident," we immediately had to pull Snowy from any showing or consideration for public adoption even though the pretty, white cat had calmed down significantly.
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(Fortunately, Snowy was later successfully and happily adopted by one of our other volunteers. Years later, Stella (the adopter) would tell me how Snowy was the delight of her life and how she could not understand the incident that occurred. -- An incident, that under other circumstances would have likely resulted in the cat's having to be put down for "aggressiveness" and "unadoptability.")
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But, if we thought the incident with the woman alleging "vicious cat attack" was over, it wasn't.
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Apparently, she signed herself into a hospital for a week and about a month later, she attempted to sue Petco.
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The woman alleged in the lawsuit that Snowy had bitten her (which was an outright lie).
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As eyewitness to the incident, I had to write up a sworn deposition that the woman had stuck her hand in the cage and that the cat had nicked her with a claw. My volunteer and witness, Judy had to also write up deposition confirming what I wrote.
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In the medical papers provided by the hospital, there was nothing indicating cat bite or treatment for any animal related wound or illness. The woman had undergone a battery of tests, none of which had anything to do with animals at all.
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Thankfully, the woman's lawsuit went nowhere. That was the good news.
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But, the bad news was that the incident forever changed and impacted how we both, showed cats for adoption and conducted actual adoptions.
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Immediately following the alleged "cat attack," we had to place signs on every cage politely advising people not to stick their hands in. We also had to take special precautions when allowing potential adopters to pet cats and/or handle.
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Every animal shown for adoption first had to spend time in foster homes or be evaluated by behavior specialists or (in the case of dogs) spend time in reputable boarding kennels and experience handling by many people.
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Adoption contracts had to be re-written with the purpose of avoiding liability for any incident that could potentially happen post adoption.
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While all of these preventative measures should have increased our confidence and security in doing animal adoptions, in my case, they didn't.
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The incident with the woman trying to sue forever stayed in the back of my mind causing me to sometimes overly question people's motives.
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At the time of the alleged incident, I thought the woman simply naive, careless and unknowledgeable about normal cat behavior.
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But, following the lies in her lawsuit, I was convinced the woman deliberately poked Snowy with the intention of provoking an "attack" and then suing the corporation for easy money.
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Sadly, there are people who will do such things, not just with pet adoptions, but other things as well. (Deliberately "slipping" in a store for example, and then trying to sue store for alleged "neglect.")
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Do I think the woman alleging "raccoon attack" in Central Park did something to incite raccoons to so-called "aggressive" behavior?
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I don't know. She could be just naive, careless or unknowledgeable about normal raccoon behavior (especially, juveniles). Or, she could have been intoxicated or otherwise impaired and "acting strangely" (at least to raccoons).
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But, regardless of exactly how it happened or why, the incident is bound to have impact -- just as ours did so many years ago.
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And one can be reasonably sure the impact will not benefit raccoons or the park attempting to provide some safe habitat for limited wildlife.
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Still, as "traumatized" and worried as I may have personally been when one questionable woman tried to sue Petco so many years ago, at least she didn't (to my knowledge) call the media out to a so-called, "cat attack" in a well known store.
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And for that reason, I worry more for the raccoons of Central Park.
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Hopefully and presumably, Central Park (like Petco) has excellent liability insurance. -- PCA
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