The ugly side of a budget freeze: dead raccoons left on city streets for days on end

Toronto Animal Services is understaffed and underfunded, and it can mean long delays in requests to deal with sick, injured, or dead animals.

Thestar.com
Oct. 13, 2022
May Warren

Someone tucked a red rose under his tiny outstretched paw, others left condolences in a card. By nightfall, candles appeared, as #DEADRACCONTO became a viral vigil.

The tragic trash panda, whose body sat unclaimed for hours on the corner of Yonge and Church Streets a few years ago, was eventually tossed into a garbage bag, his memory living on as a quirky city animal story.

But underneath the whimsical memorial lies a serious municipal issue --why can’t Toronto pick up dead raccoons (and other animal carcasses) in a timely manor?

Concerned citizen Mary Connolly has called 311 at least a dozen times about animal pickups, including dead raccoons, occasionally ones that are still alive, and even a turtle.

She’s fed up with the amount of time it takes to collect the animals.

“Something’s wrong,” Connolly said. “I just find it inefficient and they need to step up on their game a bit.”

Dead animals, she said, deserve to be treated with respect, and live ones could be saved if crews arrived sooner. It’s also a health hazard to leave bodies lying around, especially in parks or playgrounds where there are kids and dogs.

This summer, it took eight days before a raccoon, which was found alive but then died, near Dundas St. East and Gerrard St. East, was picked up by the city, she said, despite multiple 311 calls by herself and others.

Connolly and a friend took it upon themselves to move it away from the road and into a cardboard box.

“I would just drive by and see the box still sitting there, and I didn’t open it up, because I don’t do that, I have a weak stomach,” she remembers.

Toronto Animal Services is responsible for picking up the bodies of large wildlife and pets on public property, and can be alerted by calling 311. At the moment they are “experiencing a back log of service requests” that’s typical for warmer months, said a spokesperson in an email. They prioritize calls for sick or injured live animals.

“Currently, the average response time for dead animal pick up is eight days compared to the standard 48 hours,” the spokesperson added. The team received 209 requests for dead animal pickup, and 199 requests for sick and injured animals, over a three-day period earlier this month. There are usually only three or four animal control officers working during the day and two at night. There isn’t anyone working between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m.

The city does not have a separate budget line allocated to this work. Instead it’s part of the budget for Toronto Animal Services ($13.9 million in 2022) which includes things like the investigation of dog bite complaints and pet licensing.

Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park Councillor Gord Perks, said there are several reasons why Animal Services is under-resourced. The department was reorganized, and at that time many said there weren’t enough staff.

Since city departments have had to come in with no new increases in budget for several years, “there’s been no room for them to ever make up that original shortfall,” he said. As well, wages are too low to attract and retain the right people.

“It’s big system stuff, it’s austerity writ large,” he said.

“If you can’t do the basics, the city stops working, and people lose faith in government.”