Last week as we left a storytelling show what should we see but this poster. It seems a perfect item for this weeks edition of Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge.
Raccoons are everywhere in Toronto and we have a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. On the one hand, they get in to our garbage bins no matter what preventive measures we take. They eat what they like and scatter the rest everywhere.
On the other hand, we seem to have a fondness for them. They may be pests but they’re our pests. For some of us, they’re as much a part of the city as the CN Tower. And when they’re on their best behaviour, they, and especially their babies, can be quite adorable. So as we grumble about them tipping over our bins, we’re also, only somewhat tongue in cheek, creating memorials to dead ones that city services was slow to pick up.
We’re not just moved by raccoons in our city, though. Other animals get our attention. Two years ago a couple of capybara (large, dog-sized rodents) escaped a zoo and people cheered them on.
A year before, a peacock made its escape and was the subject of lots of online cheering:
.@TorontoPeacock now has a handle. Read about his High Park escape > on.thestar.com/1HRJkTn #TorontoPeacock http://t.co/LLXA3NMluV—
(@TorontoStar) May 29, 2015
We’re fascinated by animals wherever they might be. Be careful where you sit on the subway – some of the seats have crabs.
This pigeon was having none of it so they just left.
This city is a delightfully weird place. I’m happy to call it home.
Go Outside Today 
And I remember Darwin…the IKEA monkey…Toronto is such cool city
Right! That was his name! I had forgotten.
Quite interesting.The candlelight vigil for a dead racoon is cute.
It was interesting watching it play out over the course of the day from a simple complaint to city services, to one person placing a half-joking candle and photo. By the end, the tweet you see there was from the then-deputy mayor playing along. It was an interesting mixture of humour and respect at the same time.
If the owners think that raccoon is a cat…yikes. 😀 😀
This made me laugh in part because a few years ago, someone in our neighborhood posted a photo of a lost cat. It was definitely not a house cat, but an exotic pet wild cat of some kind. Not something meant for captivity. I’m not quite sure if they ever got it back.
And then there’s Boston with its terrifying turkeys.
Wow – I’ve never heard of that – and I’m from New England! (And lived in Framingham for a year and in Attleboro when I was really little)
They’re around Brookline/Brighton a fair amount. I’ve personally had to change my library walk because the turkeys decided they liked the scenery.
They’re mean. Every once in a while the police have to issue a statement telling people not to chase them, because they’ll come back after you.