Skip to content

Raccoon attack on cat horrifying

The Editor, Last Sunday night, July 3 at 11: 15 p.m. there was a knock on our door. Our household was busy that night with a sleepover in progress, popcorn popping, tv and laughing children.

The Editor,

Last Sunday night, July 3 at 11: 15 p.m. there was a knock on our door.

Our household was busy that night with a sleepover in progress, popcorn popping, tv and laughing children.

As we opened the door we saw our neighbours looking panicked as they yelled out the name of our cat and urgently called us out to the local boulevard just outside the fence of our backyard.

What we saw was unbelievably horrific!

There were four raccoons on top of our cat, gnawing on his limp body and making sounds that frightened a passerby to quickly jump to the other side of the street. I started to move in but my neighbours said it was too late. They had already got them off once only to discover that our beloved pet of 14 years was dead. By the time we got out there the raccoons were back.

My wife was so distraught watching the raccoons eating our cat that she ran back inside the house. We waited outside for the raccoons to leave but all of the sudden they collectively picked up our cat and moved into the large abyss of bushes behind our townhouse complex.

He was gone. We were stunned. The next morning we looked everywhere for his body. It was nowhere to be found. I have witnessed a few cat fights with raccoons and I have heard of several cats that have died of those injuries but I have never heard of raccoons hunting domestic animals for food.

I called the animal control officer and he suggested I call the Richmond Animal Protection Society (RAPS). The manager from RAPS said that this was normal behaviour for raccoons. Really? I am not convinced.

We at our strata wonder if the new Green Bins have altered the available food for the local raccoons and thus starting a reaction through the local food chain for the wildlife that live in Richmond. Perhaps this is a random incident. Or maybe our city officials should be working together and looking a little closer to what's happening. Two nights later a coyote pranced up the middle of Springmont Drive northbound to Williams Road.

Bryn Nixon

Richmond