Animal Advocates Watchdog

Toronto man arrested in raccoon attack

Toronto man arrested in raccoon attack

By Rob Lamberti ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Wednesday, June 1, 2011 10:03:08 MDT AM

TORONTO - Roddy Muyr was stunned when he saw his neighbour bashing a baby raccoon's head early Wednesday with a garden tool.

"I just heard this horrific banging and screaming," he said.

Muyr said he knew it wasn't two animals fighting, but possibly his neighbour who waged a campaign against raccoons last year.

He looked over the rear fence into his neighbour's backyard in the Bloor St. and Symington Ave. area around 5:55 a.m. and "started yelling at him to stop what he was doing."

He said he confronted his neighbour last year after he made a sharp "trident" type of weapon to stab raccoons as they walked along the wooden fence.

"It's just so wrong," Muyr said Wednesday.

He said he saw one of the kits twitching after its head was bashed and pleaded with the suspect to kill it to put it out of its misery.

"The skull was all crushed," Muyr said. "I just kept pleading, 'Please, just kill it. Just kill it.'"

But the suspect looked at Muyr and said he wasn't going to kill it.

"He was looking at me as if I had invaded his privacy," the shocked neighbour said.

There isn't a racoon problem in the neighbourhood, Muyr said.

"You can actually time when they go across the fence and later on they'll come back again," he said. "It's great to see the mother with her litter and stuff like that."

The mother returned to the scene looking for her other kit, Muyr said.

Area residents called city police and the man was arrested without incident.

He apparently told police that his backyard was being damaged by raccoons.

Police said neighbours saw the adult raccoon, presumably its mother, separated from a number of kits.

The suspect allegedly continued to attack the young animals. The mother was then seen carrying away two kits that appeared dead, while a third cowering kit, about two to three months old, suffered a broken front right leg and was rescued by Toronto Animal Services.

It has since been taken to Procyon Wildlife rehabilitation centre in Beeton.

A search failed to find the other injured kits and the adult.

Const. Tony Vella said there are other ways to deal with a perceived animal problem and it begins with a call to Toronto Animal Services or a private service that humanely traps animals.

"I should have done something last year," Muyr said.

Dong Nguyen, 53, is facing animal cruelty and weapons charges. He's to appear in court July 13.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2011/06/01/toronto-man-arrested-in-raccoon-attack#disqus_thread

Video at above link.

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Toronto man arrested in raccoon attack
'They're destroying my garden,' says man charged with attacking raccoons *PIC*

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