![]() Wednesday night, Fellows said all five baby raccoons that were stuck in the tree had come down. Our officers will not euthanize healthy or treatable animals - only animals that are in serious pain, fatally ill or in distress." “Toronto Animal Services’ Animal Control officers work to ensure the best possible care and outcomes for pets and wildlife. Some residents told CTV News Toronto they didn’t call 311 because they don’t want the babies euthanized.ĬTV News Toronto reached out to Toronto Wildlife Centre about wait times and best practices for people who come across raccoons in need.Ī spokesperson for Toronto Animal Services said in a statement to CTV News Toronto it works with various rescue groups, including Toronto Wildlife Centre, to provide emergency response, care and treatment. “I would hope there was a way of controlling the population so the animals, there weren’t so many to suffer, so I think it’s more of a preventive thing,” she said. She’s concerned about the resources available to respond. On the same block as the orphaned raccoons, area resident Heather Hnatiuk said she found a dead raccoon near a school. The City of Toronto said, earlier in April, a distemper outbreak in the city’s raccoon population is partially to blame. This weekend it received 365 calls for sick and injured animals, and 195 service requests for cadaver pick-up. Toronto Animal Services said calls about injured and sick animals increase with warmer weather, and the team is currently experiencing a high call volume of calls. While there were 2,302 calls between Jan.1 and May 9 in 2022, there were more than 6,340 over the same period in 2023. The number of 311 calls in the city is way up for injured wildlife. “It’s really hard because there are so many amazing rescue wildlife centres, but they are completely slammed right now,” she said. One of the raccoons being fed some electrolytes. Area resident Siki Spasic has been feeding the babies out of the tree a liquid electrolyte solution for nourishment, following the advice she said she was given by a wildlife group. However, this one fell on a metal piece of gardening equipment, and one resident said it appears the animal’s nose was slightly injured.įellows said the babies would not drink milk. But it appears calling and coaxing the raccoons out of the trees worked, as a second one fell. Since the raccoons are stuck in a high and tricky spot, they said a ladder doesn’t work. Word of the raccoons and the situation spread on social media, and on Wednesday afternoon, a small group of people came together to try and get the raccoons down. They need their mom, but they also need rehab, and we should have the facilities for these things.”įellows said she called five different organizations to rescue the baby raccoons, but none were available. On Tuesday, she said one of the babies dropped and decided to bring the raccoon home. ![]() ![]() One of the baby raccoons that fell out of the tree. She said they were removed, but the others in the tree were not rescued. “The last couple of days, we have been hearing screeching, which is definitely the babies,” she told CTV News Toronto.Īccording to Fellows, the raccoon’s mother and one of her little ones died over the weekend. It’s been an upsetting situation for crossing guard Heather Fellows, who works a block away. The babies are inside a narrow hole in a large tree near Queen Street East and Broadview Avenue. A small group of residents in Toronto’s east end attempted to rescue a group of baby raccoons stuck in a tree Wednesday afternoon.
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