Dear Editor,
Re: Time to cull raccoons, Letters, Feb. 7, 2019
The culling of wildlife, in this instance raccoons, is an unacceptable and cruel solution.
Wildlife have little to no place to roam and feed, if not in residential areas where they also live. Why has it come to this, I wonder?
Before using a drastic solution such as culling raccoons, I suggest the following:
1. Check out the City of Vancouver’s European Chafer beetles information site for more sensible solutions. Chafer beetle grubs “feed on root systems, leaving weakened lawns...”;
2. Crows are the main predators in winter as raccoons “hole up in dens during the bitterest days of winter and sleep for long stretches of time (up to a month )“;
3. Rid your lawn of Chafer grubs or be creative and replace your lawn with decorative flowering shrubs or....consider moving up north;
4. Secure your garbage containers with locking lids;
5. A cull is nonsense. Leave wildlife alone!
Louise Lafond
RICHMOND
