Within 24 hours of us posting our #SaveRaccoonsTO blog and social media, we’ve received multiple responses from council candidates across the city. But the big news is the first mayoral candidate to state they would not use lethal action: Olivia Chow.
“We understand that wildlife are part of our city and raccoons are a natural part of that. While we know that some people are disproportionately affected by raccoons and the damage they can cause, there is no reason to believe that our city is under attack by raccoon populations,” wrote the Chow campaign in an email to our supporters. “Our campaign is not advocating for, nor interested in euthanizing raccoons in our city as a means of population control. Olivia believes in supporting Toronto Animal Services in order to ensure that city staff have the resources to provide high quality services like raccoon monitoring and control throughout the city.”
Some candidates have simply asked questions about our proposed humane, ethical and sustainable solutions to wildlife conflict (see our Living With Wildlife campaign for more information).
We will continue to let all of you know who is in support of protecting Toronto’s raccoons. If you want to find candidates in your ward, or email your candidate, click here and follow our instructions. Make sure you forward responses to news@thefurbearers.com so we can keep our list up to date!
