Olympia Raccoons Dining On Neighborhood Cats

Olympia Raccoons Dining On Neighborhood Cats

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Story Published: Aug 23, 2006 at 5:38 AM PDT

Story Updated: Aug 31, 2006 at 8:35 AM PDT

By Kevin Reece

OLYMPIA - Her name was Lucy. The cat was Lisann Rolle's baby until this past June.

"They were just viciously attacking her," she said.

They... were animals you might not expect.

"And by this time the raccoons had dragged her down the alley."

Lisann and her partner scared the three attacking raccoons away and rushed Lucy to the vet. But the damage was already done.

"After two days we decided she wasn't going to make it and we had her put down," Rolle said.

Lucy, by neighborhood estimates, is one of ten cats that have fallen prey to raccoons near the 300 block of Foote Street NW.

"The house on that side of the road lost a cat, the house on this side of the road lost two cats and a third cat was attacked as well," Pam Corwin told us as we walked near the Garfield Nature Trail in the West Olympia neighborhood. She almost lost her cat too but was able to scare the raccoon away that was chasing Ramona through her backyard.

"So that was the deciding day. That was the last time Ramona left the house. That's why."

Ramona, and Pam's other cat, are now reluctant indoor pets. Their only trips outside are under the protection of a large chicken wire and wood enclosure she had built on the side of her house.

She and other neighbors have placed warning signs throughout the neighborhood: one of them on a telephone pole that now has yet another missing cat poster beneath it.

Alarmed and desperate for a solution, neighbors hired a trapper. But in a six week period he was only able to catch one raccoon leaving an estimated dozen more still roaming through the neighborhood.

State wildlife experts say the attacks by raccoons are highly unusual, that the animals could be desperate for food or have become extremely territorial.

"The trapper said it could just be that this one raccoon has a taste for cats," said neighbor Tamara Keeton.

And witnesses to other attacks, with often more than one raccoon involved, believe it is a "taste" that other raccoons have learned as well.

Lisann Rolle, who was bitten by a raccoon in the fight to save Lucy, got shots for potential rabies exposure just in case. And along with dozens of other concerned neighbors hopes wildlife experts can find a reason for the attacks and find a solution.

"I miss her," she said of her cat. "We both miss her."

A trapper may try again in late spring or early winter. Meanwhile experts are warning people not to leave pet food and other items outside that might attract the raccoons in the first place.

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