Raccoons Invade Central Park!

By John Surico Sun., Jul. 1 2012 at 11:28 AM

Categories: Make It Stop, Catch These Creeps, Catch a Crook, Central Park, John Surico

Central Park's Public Enemy No. 1

As opposed to pigeons, mice and bees, raccoons are not that commonplace in New York. Then again, this city is full of surprises...

According to the Post, the furry critters have been popping all over Central Park, specifically in the Rudin Playground - that small family-oriented area near Central Park West and 96th Street. Because if raccoons were to show up in the city's largest park, why wouldn't they be near small children?

Reports started flooding in to the City a few months back, when raccoons were first spotted in broad daylight on heaps of garbage, eating away at what was left over from the day. Due to this reason, worrisome parents have been calling 311, demanding that Bloomberg's offices do something about these possibly rabid creatures. But the agencies involved cannot help unless the raccoons are already rabid.

That makes sense.

Apparently, the New York City Department of Health tested 145 raccoons in 2010 positive with rabies. And, in regards to the rest of these scoundrels, the raccoons creeping around the City are tagged and vaccinated for the Cujo-esque disease.

But, at the same time, a human being has not contracted rabies since 1953. And we all know how that went... (We were going to put a clip of Cujo here, when Donna gets bitten by the infectious St. Bernard in the car, but it is absolutely terrifying).

Also, in addition to the daylight encounters, the Post reported that a family witnessed nannies feeding the raccoons by hand and one mother pulled her child away from the unusual scene.

We all know how Central Park can get after-hours. It takes true courage to venture into the back roads past midnight. But, now that we heard that raccoons are running rampant, those shady bridges that are full of darkness pale in comparison to what can happen when the sun is still out.

Keep your eyes peeled. Unless you want this to happen (that's the link to the Cujo scene. Proceed with caution).

[jsurico15@gmail.com/@JSuricz]