So you’re a park policeman. They give you a badge, a gun, and hopefully at least a little rudimentary training on things one might encounter in a park. Like critters.
One U.S. Park Police officer, last name unknown, shot himself while trying to remove a furry little raccoon attached to his leg yesterday while working in Washington, D.C. He fired upwards of nine shots before surrendering to the four-legged masked bandit, one of them perforating his foot. The cop was airlifted to a local hospital.
Assuming he returns to work, can you imagine the ribbing the officer’s going to get from his co-workers? “You needed how many shots to knock the raccoon off your leg?”
No word on whether the amorous raccoon was actually injured in the melee, but ABC7’s report seems to suggest the critter was still alive despite the brave officer’s hail of bullets.
Park Police say Animal Control officers have been tasked with taking the raccoon away.
Here’s hoping Ranger Rick makes a full and speedy recovery.
It’s a good thing those rangers are only issued firearms with reasonable restrictions on magazine size or this trained officer might’ve killed himself.
way too many folks these days have no experience with wildlife except what they’ve seen in Disney movies.
Glad this yahoo didn’t kill anyone. Maybe a visit to a real national park would do him some good.
Dan & Rocky Racoon???
Federal Park Police. The agency that concluded there was no evidence of foul play in the death of Vince Foster.
Give that man the Lee Paige award for this month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trlPcDg-B4E
I’ll give Lee this much. They didn’t strap him to a gurney and air lift him in a helicopter like that park wuss, he was the only one professional enough to try to finish his demonstration while bleeding from a foot wound.
Do we have any evidence, other than the words of Park Police, that the coon actually attacked the officer? Normally if there isn’t any proof, I assume that dog shooters are either cowardly idiots or vicious animal abusers. I’ll accept either video of the coon attack or photos of claw scratches or bite wounds.
Thank you! It warms my heart to be reminded of Lee Paige every now & again…
What was the raccoon doing to the cop’s leg? My nephew once embarrassed the family by wearing a tee shirt that showed a mongrel dog humping a guy’s leg. Caption on the shirt was, “Safe Sex.”
Raccoons carry rabies. Chances are the cute little racoon was rabid. So how would deal with a rabid racoon attached to your leg? 44 mag? 454 Casull? Perhaps a 500 S&W?
Pointy stick?
Also baylisascaris. It’s a nasty parasite.
I don’t know what these guys normally carry on their duty belt, but I bet pepper spray would have done the trick.
If it was rabid pepper spray would do ziltch.
Correct and pepper spray (1) takes time to pull out and deploy (more time than a pistol in my experience) and (2) takes time to take effect.
So… how many seconds of bite time is ranger rick supposed to give ricky the racoon?
Any warm-blooded animal can carry rabies.
Unless the necropsy test for rabies comes back positive there is zero evidence to suggest it was rabid.
It may have been a female who had babies nearby. They protect their young ferociously like most mothers.
Maybe, but then he would have been very close to her den and unless she is moving them that would probably be up a tree.
Racoons are not cute fuzzy wuzzies. They are nasty creatures that can be aggressive whether tbey are rabid or not. If you see a racoon during the day you best avoid it or shoot it because it is probably rabid.
Your thinking of skunks!
Coons are nocturnal. That”s why you hunt them at night.
No, there isn’t ‘zero evidence.’ Anyone who has a lick of sense from being outdoors knows that a racoon attacking a human, especially in daytime hours, is a huge indicator for rabies. I have never seen it happen due to some sort of bear-like mother situation. Could it happen? Sure, and a unicorn carrying a horny, 25 year old time-traveling Selma Hayek could burst into my house right now. I’m not betting my leg on it. And I’ll bet my toe on getting it off me. Uh, the racoon.
Or, having lived in a park in close proximity to humans and most likely lost its fear of humans, the racoon was simply looking for food. I’ve had that happen before. It’s pretty common behavior for half-way tame baby racoons who have lost or become separated from their mother.
Sounds goofy, but how is defense against an (allegedly) rabid animal the size of a medium dog a case of “irresponsible gun owner”?
The article you linked says nothing of the nine shots or “amorous raccoon” or “attached to his leg” or any of the other details you seem to have made up. Also,30 seconds of Googling would’ve told you what happened to the raccoon (he was shot by another officer).
Amateurish, careless post that diminishes the IGOD title.
The article does indeed state that neighbors heard nine shots. The story also carries the notice at the end that it had been updated after its first posting. Unless the Way-Back Machine caught the original we have no way of knowing what details may have been removed.
You may be essentially correct in your criticism, but we do not have good beyond-reasonable-doubt evidence of that.
Life-threatening, no. Career-threatening, could be.
So two deputies in Fresno shot (one by another deputy, one by self) and now this….not sure cops hould have guns at this point
At least he had “only” a 9mm, otherwise he’d have wiped out the whole Eastern Racoon population.
You can’t make this stuff up!
It was a rabid racoon attacking him, not a lovelorn critter humping. If I had a rabid racoon trying to gnaw my leg off I might be willing to risk shooting a toe off.
Do you have any evidence the raccoon had the rabies virus or are you speculating?
I’d await test results before assigning labels to an animal that may have had a different side of the story.
If a raccoon approaches and attacks in daylight hours it is safe to assume it is rabid. Or, more accurately, it is extremely UNSAFE to believe that it is not. The officer in question presumably quite reasonably surmised that it was rabid, given the statements that citizens should “stay away from it, it’s rabid” (in other reports). It doesn’t matter what test reports say since we don’t have access to a time machine and the person getting bit has no use of future test reports.
That said, let’s assume that the animal is not rabid. Still going to be calm and collected while it chews your leg? Ever seen what a racoon can do?
Did somebody say the event occurred during daylight hours?
“The incident took place around noon on Horse Stable Lane in Northwest…”
http://klewtv.com/news/offbeat/us-park-police-officer-shoots-himself-in-foot-after-being-attacked-by-raccoon-in-dc
He’s a cop. Take his word for it, all raccoons are rabid, all dogs too.
Jeesh. Talk about metaphors. DC officer shoots self in foot while dealing with minor problem.
Good thing it wasn’t a fly on his nose.
Well at least he was an approved government minion.
If it had been a commoner with a gun, there would be dead bodies everywhere.
You need that reich-approved training to only shoot yourself and prevent wanton destruction.
“Air lifted”? For a foot wound? Why? I hope he gets the $7000+ bill for that.
Internet friend of mine took a 20 minute ride on a medical chopper last month. Bill was $27k. He didn’t say how much the insurance paid, just that his co-pay was $100.
Good insurance! Like 10 years back my wife fell down the stairs and ended up on a chopper to the hospital, my copay was $850. I don’t recall the total. We paid it with a smile, it most assuredly saved her life, she was bleeding out internally from a lacerated liver.
Take it from an old country boy. Raccoons are about the cutest animal out there. And pound for pound they are about the meanest.
I’d be ashamed of myself if I let one get close enough to be in contact with it. We used to settle their egg eating, chicken killing hash with a .22 or a load of #6.
Nothing cuter than a raccoon. Especially a dead one.
My dad was too. He wouldn’t let the shepherds out to chase off the varmints because he knew who would come out with the short end of the stick–and he didn’t want to pay the vet bills to get his dogs sewn up.
Well, that sucks. A lot of cops need a whole lot more gun training, particularly those from big, anti-gun cities.
I hope the station he works at has police with as much sarcasm as ours.
Also: pepper spray. It works on critters and won’t leave a hole in your leg.
Pepper spray won’t convince a rabid raccoon to let go of one’s leg. For all we know, maybe he tried it.
Just imagine Joe Citizen pulling this stunt anywhere in the country and they would be arrested.
I’m just glad it’s at least theoretically possible (finally, after multiple court battles) for Joe Citizen to be carrying a loaded handgun in DC.
You mean the same way someone in NJ can?
So the helicopter lands near the wounded officer with a bullet hole in his foot and the pilot tells him to hop in.
D’oh.
The cute picture of a momma raccoon with babies is unhelpful. You needed to use a pic of a very rabid coon. They’re not so cute.
Nocturnal animal out in the day = not acting normal.
Usually shy animal acting unaware of a human, or even acting aggressive = probably very sick, very probably rabid.
Don’t let that thing near you, a child, or your dog.
I thought that was common knowledge.
Yep. That sugar sweet photo of the raccoons kinda reminds me of the msm’s pictures of trayvon. manipulating the public.
I get the feeling some ‘POTG’ haven’t got that much knowledge about forest critters based on the comments here.
Sounds like they need to consider culling the herd.
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