A rabid raccoon was shot by an officer last week in St. Charles.
Paul McCurtain, St. Charles Police Department’s public information officer, said that at 8:37 a.m. on Nov. 9 at a house on the 1500 block of Ronzheimer Avenue, a resident spotted a sick raccoon “shaking violently and walking in circles.”
“The complainant said the raccoon kept trying to get into the house,” McCurtain said. “She was concerned for the welfare of her two young grandchildren.”
The officer arrived on the scene and could not get the raccoon to leave. The woman notified her neighbors that the officer would be shooting the raccoon and it was then shot once by the officer with the police issued handgun.
“Officers always make sure that it’s safe before it happens,” McCurtain said. “It happens frequently that you have to dispatch a sick or injured animal. You have to do it. You get a deer that’s not going to make it and it’s still alive.”
McCurtain said there was one complaint from a neighbor who wondered why they had to shoot the raccoon instead of just leaving it alone.
