A Washington woman resorted to calling the police after her decades-long habit of feeding local raccoons spun out of control into an all-out raccoon invasion of her home, authorities said.
The resident, living in the Seattle suburb of Poulsbo, called Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office deputies on Thursday due to a mob of 100 raccoons “demanding food” outside her house, 12News reported.
Shocking video footage shared by the sheriff’s office shows the herd of woodland creatures camped out in the woman’s yard:
The resident told deputies that she had been feeding raccoons for 35 years, but the population had “exploded” in the last six weeks.
“Somehow the word got out in raccoon land and they all showed up to her house expecting a meal,” Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin McCarty said.
“[The deputies] were shocked,” McCarty added. “They had never seen that many raccoons in one place. Nobody ever remembers being surrounded by a swarm of raccoons. This was a first.”
The woman’s neighbor, Wendy Cronk, said she has also seen a dramatic uptick in raccoon interactions.
“I’d say it’s been about the last month or so I’ve noticed it,” she told the local outlet. “I’ve had several raccoons in the yard recently. My dogs have gotten in a scuffle several times with a raccoon.”
“I’ve even had to take one of my dogs to the vet after tussling with a raccoon,” Cronk continued. “And I’ve also noticed there’s been a lot more hit raccoons up on the main road here.”
She added that she hopes her neighbor will stop feeding wild animals.
“I just hope that somebody steps in and helps her take care of this problem… and hopefully she’ll quit doing it,” said Cronk.
Another neighbor, Jim Malmbord, also complained to KOMO News.
“I’ve never seen that much, not in one place. You know, I can see where she started feeding them, but she didn’t stop. She just didn’t give up,” he said.
The raccoon-feeder told deputies that a trapping company had quoted her $500 to trap and relocate just one raccoon — leading the sheriff’s office to refer her to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for help instead.
“At this point, it’s been determined that the raccoons haven’t committed any crimes,” McCarty said.
“It’s pretty simple,” he added. “Don’t feed wild animals. When wild animals have a reliable food source, they’re going to keep coming back to it. And that’s what these raccoons did until the number of raccoons expecting a meal got out of hand.”
