A well-meaning resident who lives on the Cedar Falls Road

recently “saved” an injured raccoon. She

took the animal to “Crazy Bob,” who amputated the infected leg and will

eventually replace the recovered, three-legged raccoon back into the wild.

This person made an assumption about the cause of injury that I

believe to be incorrect, misleading and results in attempting to discredit licensed

trappers and deceive an uneducated public.

We have an injured raccoon. How many ways could this occur?

1. Mother Raccoon tells her young that it is time to go out on

their own and survive. This happens through family territorial battles and/or a

dwindling food-supply squabble.

2. Predation by other wild animals. Coyote, cougar and bobcats

live in this area and are opportunistic predators.

3. Domestic pets fighting to protect territory and their own

food dish on the porch, or large animals kicking/stepping on a nuisance

intruder.

4. Hit by some moving road vehicle. This time of year there are

an increasing amount of “roads kills.” Food is less abundant, family unit

ties are weakening and animals are putting themselves at risk to eat and stay alive.

5. A home or landowner took appropriate or inappropriate action

to protect domestic pets, livestock, fish ponds or garden. There is no way

to tell if the person was skilled or unskilled in their attempt.

6. Natural cause of infection or injury from the type of life the

wild animal is subject to.

7. A foot-hold trap. Unfortunately, the well-meaning resident

obviously has no understanding of this trap and goes to great lengths to

embellish upon its dangers to her family and the public in general. The

facts are: No licensed trapper would be authorized by law to set a trap in the

area at this time of year, but more importantly, no licensed trapper would

have a reason to set a trap at this time of year. However, a licensed

nuisance-control trapper would have the authority if there was a need. These

nuisance-control trappers would not be excluded from trapping with a

foot-hold trap by Initiative 713.

So now we have a handicapped raccoon, which I believe was a

very young animal who has never been through a winter. This

three-legged amputee is going to be placed in a

very high-risk, stressful situation. It will encounter extreme hardships to

establish territory, find shelter, obtain food and water, as well as be elusive

enough to be undetected or strong enough to protect itself. Will this animal

survive? What set of circumstances and human intervention has created a cruel

situation for this animal?

Fred Lawrence,

North Bend