EnCon Police Moderator
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 3899
Originally Posted By: ssnfreebee
Captain Camejo, I have no idea who started it but I can tell you it is not too easy for an animal of that size to get into my yard unless is after something. My dogs have full run of 2 acres and the past three other cases the animal in question was smaller and did go after my dogs with no fear. In those cases I witnessed the whole thing but this time it is second hand after it started. So without seeing the whole sitution myself I can't fully say who was chasing who. My dogs are not in the habit of backing down from something that comes after them or if they are protecting us unless someone tells them to. According to my brother it was foaming at the mouth and I did tell each person in my phone calls that description and I still got nothing. I agree that calls made in the middle of the night for bats in the house or something under the porch are rediculious. A call for something that happened in the middle of the day like this, I would think that someone would give more importance to. If the statute for dealing with animals is as you describe than why would ACO & DEP WILDLIFE point the finger at each other and still not help me. I have no idea how the local PD would deal with this or how they would like me discharging a firearm near houses but I guess I will just call them next time to see. Since I live next to some wooded areas I know that this won't be the last time. Is there a local contact for New London County EnCon or should I go thru the same freaking calls again? Glenn
Glenn, I didn't make up the statute, I copied and pasted it so what you see above is state law. The statute puts the responsibility of rabies control on the Dept of Agriculture/ACOs, we don't put that responsibility on them.
With the number of raccoons, skunks, bats, etc. that are in the state it's physically impossible for us to respond to all the calls regarding them. That's why we defer to the local ACO/PD/Health Dept. If you call our dispatch center they have the policy that I listed in my earlier post and that's the protocol that they follow for sending out an officer. Even if we still responded to every call, you would probably be looking at an extended wait before an officer could get to your location. The local PD/ACO can be there in a matter of minutes. I wish we had a sufficient number of officers to handle all these calls, but we don't.
If you have an ongoing problem with raccoons in your yard you can contact a NWCO who can trap and remove them. In all honesty, unless a raccoon (or other wild animal) is presenting a direct threat to public/human safety, we would not routinely send one of our officers. If you called our dispatch center and reported your dogs fighing with or corning a raccoon the response you would get from them is that we would not send out an officer and that you should contact your ACO/PD. If you made direct contact with our Wildlife Division they would tell you the same thing that I am...our policy is their policy.
The ACO/local PD can assist by putting down the raccoon. Most PDs in the state (with one or two exceptions) do this routinely. I hear the State Police on the radio sending Troopers all the time to put down raccoons and skunks. (They usually have more Troopers working in one troop area on a shift than we do statewide, so they have the extra people to handle these calls.) Once the animal is dead the local Health Dept can make the arrangements for testing with a caveat...they may not do it if there was no human contact. If that's the case your vet may help out.
I know it's not the answer you want, but that's how we are operating right now. If you would like to talk to our officer who handles your area give our dispatch center a call at 860-424-3333 and ask that they have the officer call you regarding an ongoing wildlife problem. That doesn't mean the officer is going to do anything more for you, but they may have some suggestions or advice to cut down on the raccoons getting into your yard.
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