DERBY, CT — A raccoon that was kept at a Derby restaurant and removed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection late last month is now with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, the department confirmed this week.
In an email to Patch, Director of Communications Will Healey said Wednesday the animal is with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator qualified to handle raccoons.
“The animal will stay with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator until it learns the skills needed to be released into the wild,” Healey said. “This process will take time as the raccoon is now a habituated animal.”
Healey also emphasized that DEEP and the state Department of Agriculture remind residents that keeping raccoons and other wild animals as pets “is illegal and can endanger people, pets and the animals themselves.”
Anyone who finds wildlife that appears sick, injured or orphaned is asked to “contact local animal control or a licensed wildlife rehabilitator rather than attempting to care for it yourself,” according to Healey.
“In many cases, animals that appear to be in distress aren’t actually distressed,” Healey said. “If you care about wildlife, contact an expert or leave it alone.”
The department also provided further information about raccoons, dealing with distressed wildlife and rabies and wildlife in Connecticut from DEEP’s wildlife team, as well as information about rabies from the state Department of Public Health.
According to a joint statement released Tuesday by DEEP, DPH and DoAg, EnCon Police officers removed a raccoon that was being kept illegally at Bartone’s Apizza in Derby on Oct. 28 after receiving an anonymous complaint.
The three departments said Tuesday they were “currently evaluating next steps.”
The Connecticut Post reports a woman who helps run the pizzeria said she found the baby raccoon alone behind the restaurant a few months ago and kept it clean and fed outside in a habitat underneath a porch.
The woman also told CT Post the raccoon was never inside the restaurant or around garbage, and health inspectors evaluated the restaurant after DEEP removed the animal but did not find any violations.