A RACCOON IS seen in a video posted to the Citizens’ App by a user on Friday, Dec. 15, 2023 at 33 Bedford Park Boulevard East in Bedford Park. Video courtesy of the Citizens’ App

A Citizens app user shared a video posted on Friday, Dec. 15, of a raccoon apparently seen in the scaffolding of a construction site at 33 Bedford Park Boulevard East in the Bedford Park section of The Bronx, located to the right of a barber shop located at 47 Bedford Park Boulevard East.

 

Norwood News informed both the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals and 311 of the raccoon sighting. We were referred to 911, and the team confirmed they would follow up.

The Mayor’s Alliance later informed us that it doesn’t have the authority or facility to rescue wildlife and if contacted, would refer such cases to Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC). They said they assume 311 would also refer cases to ACC.

 

The Mayor’s Alliance also shared resources for both the Urban Utopia Wildlife Rehabilitation (https://www.urbanutopiawildlife.org/ and Wild Bird Fund (https://www.wildbirdfund.org/).

 

Previously, when Norwood News has called for animal rescue services (not necessarily the latter two organizations but other citywide services) to rescue various animals, they have informed us that they do not cover The Bronx.

The Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals can be reached by phone on (917) 359-6003 or via the website: AnimalAllianceNYC.org.

 

The raccoon was seen on Friday on the scaffolding close to the street level of the site of a new tall, modern building on the Bedford Park Boulevard block between St. Philip Neri Avenue / Villa Avenue and the Grand Concourse. As reported, a female driver in a car narrowly escaped injury and potential death in September 2022 when a boom truck pole being used for construction at the site of the new building collapsed onto her car.

On Saturday, Dec. 16, Norwood News spoke to a barber working in the barber shop located next to the construction site where the raccoon was seen and he said he did see it the night before, and that he has also seen some nearby on the Grand Concourse near a funeral home.

 

Earlier this year, and as reported in our News Briefs section on page 7 of our latest print edition, USPS previously informed Norwood News that the Jerome Avenue post office located on the block between East Gun Hill Road and Mosholu Parkway in Norwood has been closed since at least June 2023 due to a raccoon infestation in the building. When we later followed up with USPS, they said the owners of the building had still not resolved the situation.

We later managed to speak to the building owners and they said the situation has been resolved and that they don’t know why USPS has not reopened the post office. USPS continues to operate a mobile unit outside the premises but the building owners say USPS staff use the post office building to go to the bathroom, for storage, and other purposes, and they don’t understand why it is not reopened to the public.

 

Meanwhile, back in Bedford Park, on Saturday, we also spoke to Michelle James, a local resident of Villa Avenue, close to the area of the raccoon sighting, and she said she sees the raccoon family there regularly.

We mentioned that someone had shared the video and that we had followed up with 311, who referred the matter to 911. “The police don’t really do anything about the raccoons,” James said. “I’ve seen them [the raccoons] when they come out. Wherever there’s scaffolding, or wherever there’s construction going on, that’s where you see them, up high, and then they come down low at night to retrieve their food.”

 

James said she has seen them go through trash cans in the neighborhood at night. “You hear the loud squeaky noise that they make, and it’s about six of them. I swear it’s a big family! You can tell the mother, the father, and you can you tell the three or four little ones. They’re babies, and then sometimes they get stuck in the scaffolding if there’s a fence. Sometimes, they get stuck in the fence, and then the mother or the father tries to retrieve them and sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

James continued, “But they find some way or somehow to get out and they’re so tiny, the babies. You can tell the mother and the father. They’re really big. Only at nighttime do they come out. If they come out in the evening, that’s because they’re looking for food, but basically, when it’s nighttime, they’re in the garbage here on the street on the street, and they just look at you, like, ‘Hello, how are you?'”

 

James said they don’t attack or bite. “If you leave them alone, it seems like they can sense fear or if you’re harmful, and at nighttime, it’s basically really desolate,” she said. “So it’s like they know when to come out. If you see them now, it’s either the mother or the father because they’re fending for food, but you won’t see them now. You’ll see them as soon as it gets dark.” Asked when was the last time she saw them, James said, “Oh, wow! This is December. Probably last month, November – the entire family.”

Click here to view some wildlife safety tips.

 

Editor’s Note: In an earlier version of this story, we shared an address for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC Animals. However, the Alliance later informed us that this was just a mailing address and not a physical location or center so we have removed it.