Surgical Strike Sought Against Pesky Raccoons

Frustrated residents of woodsy Berkeley are at wits’ end over a raccoon invasion. They’ve tried scaring them. They’ve tried catching them. And now they want to make it really personal--they want to neuter them.

In what officials say could be the first ordinance of its kind in the nation, a Berkeley city councilwoman wants captured raccoons to be sterilized before being let back into the community. “They’ve become a real nuisance,” said the councilwoman, Linda Maio, who plans to introduce the ordinance next month. “But state fish and game laws say we can’t release them into the wild and the city doesn’t want to just kill them. So we’re stuck.”

The proposal is already drawing protests from wildlife experts. In an ultraliberal community that worries about the kind of coffee it drinks, many say that residents are overreaching in trying to find a politically correct solution--that sterilization is crueler to the animals than euthanasia.

“Neutering is an invasive surgery,” said Susan Heckly, wildlife rehabilitation director at the Lindsey Wildlife Museum, a nonprofit in Walnut Creek. “It’s not normal for wild animals to be unable to reproduce. That’s what wild animals are all about.”

State fish and game laws prohibit the relocation of wild animals, which officials say spreads disease and violates the turf of other creatures. And while many communities trap and kill problem skunks and possums, squeamish Berkeley often turns away from such harsh measures.

“Of course people are going to say, ‘Oh, this is liberal, crazy Berkeley at it again,’ ” Maio said. “But I’d like to ask those people what the alternatives are. Should we all just go out with our shotguns and start shooting them?”

State Department of Fish and Game officials said they know of no city in the state that neuters raccoons, and said their approval would be needed before any local law could take effect.

Wildlife advocates said the best course would be to educate residents in ways to stop attracting the animals. That means not leaving pet food and water outdoors and closing crawl spaces.

“Communities need to change human behavior first,” said Laura Simon, urban wildlife director for the Fund for Animals’ Urban Wildlife Office in Connecticut. Kate O’Connor, manager of the city-run Berkeley Animal Care Center, said the city’s raccoon population has remained stable in recent years and presents no more of a problem than that for other area cities.

She said that about 10 captured animals are brought in each month. The city euthanizes only if the raccoons are sick or injured, or if officials cannot determine the neighborhood where they were caught.

“In theory, neutering is a good idea,” she said. “But how long would veterinarians have to keep them in captivity before releasing them?”

Officials in Pacific Grove, near Monterey, considered neutering raccoons after an infant suffered permanent brain damage when he became infected with roundworm, an infection endemic in raccoons. Officials decided that sterilization would work only if they could sterilize 90% of the population.

Officials were criticized after asphyxiating scores of raccoons with carbon dioxide pumped into traps, and activists threatened to sue to protect the animals.

Maio has had raccoon run-ins. A family nested in her attic. And raccoons recently invaded a guest’s car parked outside her home after the convertible top had been left down.

“She went out in the middle of the night and found the raccoons sitting at the wheel of her car, eating cookies,” Maio said. “And now I continually find raccoon paw prints all over my car each morning. They’re looking for more cookies. They remember. They’re smart.”