Torontonians create memorial for dead raccoon

As darkness descended, candles marked the raccoon’s unceremonious deathbed.

It all started when Toronto resident Jason Wagar walked by the raccoon’s body on his way to work Thursday morning.

It began at around 9:00 a.m. local time Thursday, when a concerned Torontonian tweeted at Animal Services to pick up a dead raccoon on the street.

As Conrad lay on the sidewalk, he caught the attention of Norm Kelly, a Toronto city councillor and Twitter legend.

A city employee tweeted back at Wagar, telling him that the raccoon’s body would be promptly disposed of.

Meanwhile, a red rose, a framed photo of a raccoon and a condolence card were dropped off at the site.

Rather than be disgusted by it, passersby took pity on the poor creature and arranged a memorial for it, complete with flowers and even a candlelight vigil.

Finally, at about 11 p.m., a city worker removed the animal and left the makeshift memorial intact.

Five hours later, and Animal Services still hadn’t come to Conrad’s plight, even though Twitter was ablaze with comments on the hashtag #DeadRaccoonTO. The dead raccoon phenomenon continued to bring people in Toronto and around the world together.

Then just after 11pm as a small crowd gathered – a city van pulled up and took the raccoon away. We’ve got lots of four-legged, furry neighbors in our cities and towns, and they can’t – and shouldn’t – be ignored.