I swerve for raccoons (and pigeons and squirrels)

Last month, Monica Eng, a food writer at the Chicago Tribune, generated some controversy by an article on raccoon consumption. The raccoon was prepared by Homaru Cantu of Moto and plated like road kill. There was a follow up story on the hunting and selling of raccoon in Illinois. Even columnist John Kass got into the act with a tongue-in-cheek article on roasted giraffe after one of Brookfield Zoo's male giraffes broke his neck in a bizarre accident.

Tuesday evening, I saw a raccoon with a broken leg crossing Western Avenue at Wilson. It made it to the sidewalk where it laid on top of a pile of snow. I pulled over and called 311. I waited 40 minutes. I gave up waiting for animal control after a policeman told me it could take hours.

When I got home, I researched the internet for wildlife rehabilitation resources in Chicago. There are none. There's a handful of rural wildlife rehabilitators, most, it seemed, who don't deal with raccoons. There's Willowbrook Wildlife Center but they service DuPage County (they are funded by the DuPage County Forest Preserve). I also learned that most vets won't treat wild animals.

I emailed my alderman; Anne Kent, Executive Director of Cook County Animal Care & Control; Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director Chicago Wildlife Corporate Council and Steve Thompson, VP of Lincoln Park Zoo.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile, at this animal rehabilitator's ebay store, you can view pictures of domesticated and wild animals she has rescued. The photos are graphic and not suitable for everyone.

Stan Gehrt, a wildlife biologist at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation in Dundee, had been studying raccoons in Kansas, Texas, and northeastern Illinois for 17 years when he was interviewed for an article in the summer 2002 issue of Chicago Wilderness magazine.

You can learn more about raccoons at The Gable's Raccoon World.

The above photo came from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources website.

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