Results tagged “raccoon”

The raccoon now known as Houdini—after escaping the cage his captors put him in yesterday—may have ended up being caught again, but the good news is he's still alive. The NY Post reports that the animal, who infiltrated City Hall, shows no signs of disease and "is scheduled to be released in a wooded area somewhere in the five boroughs." Phew! Mike Pastore of Animal Care & Control told NY1, "We get an animal like this, we're concerned for the public health aspect of it. We don't want somebody to encounter a raccoon coming across, so I'm glad that we were able to get him out the area." And just look how cute this 25-lb guy is! Guess all raccoons aren't foaming at the mouth.

It might be time to worry about a raccoon takeover of the city. Earlier today one of them outsmarted the humans, escaping their clutches after being caught on the roof of City Hall. 1010Wins reports back that "he quickly figured out his getaway—reaching up and bending back the top of the cage. He then got to the ground by climbing down some construction scaffolding on the back side of City Hall. He eluded animal control for more than half an hour as he crept along the bottom of the wall."

The raccoon look was back in SoHo today. No, that' doesn't mean Gossip Girl was filming a Little J scene at Uniqlo—we mean there literally was a raccoon inside the John Varvatos store on Spring and Greene. Gawker reports: "According to the nice lady I talked to when I called, animal control sadly took him away before they had time to name him, after a significant crowd had gathered outside. No idea how he got in, and she had no idea where they took him to." The website got tipped off by Cheryl Tan, who spotted the raccoon and did what any responsible citizen journalist does these days—Twitpicked it up ASAP. Along with the shot, she tweeted, "A raccoon just snuck into John Varvatos in SoHo-they swear it's not being kept for future fur collar." Does anyone else get the feeling PETA could be involved with this?

Brooklyn Born noticed the "elusive Downtown Brooklyn Raccoon" last night in Clinton Hill and took photographs (one above) and video. He writes:

The Raccoon was chillin, hard. Strolling across streets, through crosswalks, it made a pit-stop at Moe's and was basically more comfortable looking on Lafayette than most Pratt Students. Now for all you suburban folks, country heads and new-comers, I know you can throw a rock in the woods and hit a family of raccoons, but I'm impressed by the fact that at 9pm on crowded streets this raccoon was holding sway. I marveled at how a fat fuzzy creature that didn't seem interested in sprinting, could navigate city streets until I saw it wait for the light at South Elliot.

Raccoons are familiar faces in Brooklyn these days. An earlier tip from the Department of Health, when it reported about a rabid raccoon a few years ago, "New Yorkers are reminded to avoid animals acting aggressively or viciously, stumbling or acting disoriented, or wild animals acting unusually tame. To report vicious or aggressive animals, please call 911. To report sick or injured animals, please call 311."

Though the autopsy isn't in on this little guy, according to this map he met his end in Prospect Park (where his kind has struck before), and according to the orange paint it may have been at the hands of a cable company (probably Time Warner). Whether the company has blood or just orange paint on its hands is undetermined, but shame on them--Fios would never pull this.

Yesterday Gawker posted a photo of what quickly became referred to as "the Montauk Monster." Lizzie Grubman jokes were made, spines shivered, conspiracy theorists pondered (the Montauk Project, anyone?), a new internet superstar was born, and most came to the conclusion that the thing that washed up near the Surfside Inn was a bloated turtle without its shell. Or a monster.

Human intruders aren't the only worry amongst New Yorkers--now wildlife is encroaching upon residences throughout the city, especially in Brooklyn. Many blogs have been reporting neighborhood sightings, and now the NY Times jumps in with a look at raccoons paying visits to human neighbors.

The raccoon seen in a tree at East 88th Street and 1st Avenue ultimately died after the police tried to capture it. The Post reports the cops "bungled" the raccoon rescue operation, firing tranquilizer darts "deep in its body."

What could make these people stop and take photos at First Avenue and 88th Street today?