JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- For three days, a raccoon has been stumbling around Heidi Buresh's Southside home.
"The oddest thing is it's walking in circles in the road and it's out in the middle of the day."
But protecting her children and pets has been harder than she imagined. She's made multiple calls to the county, animal care, JSO and the Florida Wildlife Commission, but none of them have provided a realistic answer.
"They can't do anything and if they do, it will charge you upwards of $300 or $400."
After similar reports in Riverside last month and Arlington earlier this week, Action News started calling as well. The city says Animal Care and Protective Services is only responsible for domesticated cats and dogs.
The official policy shared with Action News states:
"Florida has no nuisance wildlife removal program. If you want to have an animal removed from your property you must do so at your own expense. State rules regarding relocating animals and a list of registered wildlife trappers are available at myfwc.com. If you have questions about an animal’s behavior, you can contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 1-386-758-0525 to speak to a wildlife biologist...If someone has been bitten, scratched or exposed to the body fluids of a wild animal, (such as a raccoon, bat or skunk or fox) they should contact the Duval County Health Department at 253-1280. After hours or on weekends, you can call the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office non-emergency line at 253-0500."
In addition, Florida Wildlife representatives say they don't have the resources to remove every nuisance animal in the state.
In fact, Action News found only one local organization willing to help at no expense. Wildlife Rescue Coalition of Northeast Florida took in 570 raccoons last year, and Office Operations Coordinator Kimbery Goble says half of them suffered from distemper, an airborne disease among animals that is spreading faster than ever before.
"There's not much the government organizations can do," she said. "The raccoons have to bite somebody so it will become a health issue so the city will get involved."
After 15 years, she's hoping local lawmakers will finally take notice, and work to form a formal agreement with the WRCNF to continue providing free trapping services as well as public education. Right now they are a non-profit, volunteer organization funded totally by donations, that nurses animals back to health if possible, and releases them on a 38,000 acre farm near Lake City. Animals found with rabies or distemper are immediately euthanized to protect the community and other non-vaccinated wildlife.
To learn more about their services go to
www.wildlifecoalition.com.
