Woman’s 35 years of feeding raccoons leads to shocking scene, Washington video shows

A woman has been feeding raccoons for the past 35 years in Washington, deputies said.

Then one day, she discovered a shocking scene.

Nearly 100 hungry raccoons had overtaken her property, and they wouldn’t leave, the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office said in an Oct. 7 Facebook post.

Deputies responded Oct. 3 to her home near Poulsbo.

The woman told authorities she had been feeding the animals for decades, deputies said.

But then the raccoons brought their friends to her property about six weeks earlier, deputies said. A video shows dozens of raccoons crowding around her yard.

She told authorities the animals “surround her day and night demanding food.”

At one point, she fled from her home in her car to get away from the horde of raccoons, deputies said.

Now, the woman is working with a wildlife control operator to trap the raccoons on her property, a spokesperson for the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife told McClatchy News Oct. 8.

Wildlife officials urge the public to not feed wildlife.

“We discourage people from feeding wildlife, as this causes them to lose their natural fear of people, which can lead to aggression,” wildlife officials said.

Feeding wild animals can also draw them together — like in the woman’s case with the raccoons.

Animals can also carry diseases that can transmit to people and pets.

Poulsbo is about a 35-mile drive northwest from Seattle.

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