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Dare a Raccoon to Play?
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Hurry, winter!
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Anyone familiar with this blog must surely be sick of hearing me say this by now.
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It is not a wish born of brutally hot, unbearable weather, as NYC has been quite pleasant over the past week.
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It is a wish born of the realization of what heavy human traffic ultimately means for the animals of our parks and nature trails.
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Today in New York City, it is Central Park raccoons who are suddenly in the glare of ugly human encounter and negative, propaganda press:
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The above "story" has hit all of the local media in NYC.
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But, as with Canada geese, the press fails to do any investigation and just takes as biblical fact what someone claims -- regardless of how the claim defies common sense or contrasts with actual knowledge of animal behavior.
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In this case, a woman who at the very minimum, appears off in some significant way.
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As someone who sees raccoons on a regular basis in Central Park, I find Ms. Larson's claims to lack credibility.
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Put simply, something is not right in the story.
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Raccoons are normally shy of people and do their best to avoid encounters.
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Juvenile raccoons could be a different matter, but if approaching a human it would likely be in the interests of perceived food treat or desire to play.
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The so-called, "bites" on Larson's leg appear to be more marks of juvenile play than serious bite attempt. Like a cat (or dog), if a raccoon were to intentionally bite, one would expect deep puncture wound(s) -- not what appear superficial play bites and scratches, similar to those from puppies or kittens.
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Larson admits to "kicking at the raccoons" which would only further incite play aggression. The animals probably thought she was playing with them.
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Without denigrating the woman too much, it was ironic she accused the raccoons of "acting strangely" and "appearing drunk" -- characteristics, she herself seemed to exude in TV interviews.
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Wild hair, wild eyes, hyper almost frantic, kind of personality. One cannot help but wonder if doctors gave Ms. Larson a sobriety or drug test when she was in hospital?
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One thing for sure: Ms. Larson likes publicity (and is likely thinking "law suit" or publicity for her band or career.) Larson apparently called all the news stations to report her "raccoon attack."
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Whether intended or not, that will absolutely be bad news for the raccoons of Central Park.
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We should not be surprised when visiting Central Park over the next few weeks to see "Warning -- Possibly Rabid Raccoons" signs. (That is, if we don't ourselves contact park officials to express support and protection of raccoons and other park wildlife.)
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Raccoon roundups to surely occur.
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(Thanks, Ms. Larson and non-investigating media. You can now celebrate with some bottles of champagne.)
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"How Dare the Moose Walk a Country Trail!"
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If the fake news of so-called, "raccoon attack" in Central Park wasn't enough to cause one to question human intelligence, there is also this nonsense from Bolder, Colorado:
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In this case, a woman hiking on a country trail with two off leash dogs is surprised that a cow moose with two calves dared to defend her young.
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When the woman attempted to get her dogs, the mother moose knocked her over.
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Wow, who would ever think?
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Yep, that is the question all right.
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People apparently not thinking -- at all.
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In comment to this piece, it is claimed that from another article, the hiker expressed dismay that the moose was on or near the trail.
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Don't moose live in country forests?
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Would not any mother animal (including humans) defend their young from real and perceived threat (dogs representing very real threat to a moose)?
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Despite what surely is an animal acting perfectly normally under the circumstances, "officials are out looking for the moose."
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(Why? To kill her for acting like a mother? Or, to "relocate" her and her babies from their home because some human is too dumb to take precautions or learn animal behavior?. Unfortunately, the article doesn't tell us.)
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Here is the real problem -- and actual fact.
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Whether raccoons, moose, geese or even our very own cats and dogs, most animal "bites" or "attacks" occur due to some human error and/or lack of understanding of animal behavior.
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I want to say to all these people who descend on parks, nature trails, lakes or ponds during the warm weather months, one thing:
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If you cannot or will not take the time to understand and respect the very basics of nature and animal behavior, then stay home and play video games. The parks, nature trails and most of all, the animals don't need or want you.
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But, for now, all I can do is hope for winter to "hurry" and get here.
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Better to don jacket, scarf, hat and gloves any day than to daily have to bare witness to so much human ignorance, misunderstanding, cruelty and callousness towards wildlife and so much animal loss. -- PCA
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