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People In Toronto Created A Memorial To A Dead Raccoon After The City Forgot To Pick It Up

RIP #DeadRaccoonTO

Just after 9 a.m. Thursday morning a good citizen of Toronto saw a dead raccoon on the sidewalk. He alerted the city's contact centre to come get the animal.

@311Toronto There’s a dead raccoon on the sidewalk outside 819 Yonge (at the SE corner of Church).

The city responded 12 minutes later. Animal Services was notified, they said.

@jasonwagar Thank you for letting us know. This was reported a short while ago and Animal Services has been notified. ^de

The poor raccoon would soon be taken away. Sad, but at least the system works.

@311Toronto Excellent, thanks! Poor fella had a rough night.

But around noon the raccoon was still there. And someone put a note next to it.

Six hours after being reported to the city, the raccoon was still on the sidewalk. People had started to create something of a memorial to it.

@311Toronto It’s now after 3 pm and I guess Animal Services hasn’t been by, because someone’s having some fun now:

Was this spontaneous? Who has time to print a photo of a raccoon, frame it, and put it on the street?

No one knew why this was happening, or if it was some kind of stunt.

(Update: Read the story of the people who created the memorial.)

City Councillor Norm Kelly, who is surely one of Canada's greatest Twitter users, saw the raccoon tweet and also asked the city to take action.

Please have staff pick up this raccoon at 819 Yonge St, @311Toronto. H/T @jasonwagar. #TOpoli

The city replied yet again.

@norm That's just disrespectful. Animal Svcs notified again. ^gt

OK, so now someone would come get the poor thing.

Almost two hours later, the raccoon was still there. Someone wrote #deadraccoonto on a piece of paper. A hashtag was born.

Don't quite know what to say about this sidewalk discovery except that it really brought ppl together. #deadraccoonto

Noticing the hashtag sign, one commenter on this Instagram photo asked, "I don't get it — is the raccoon trying to go viral?"

People added flowers and a Sharpie so folks could sign a condolences card. It had been more than nine hours since the first tweet to the city.

sleep well my sweet prince, people loved you and remember you #deadraccoonto

Close to 8 p.m. the raccoon was still there. Flowers and cards continued to pile up.

Raccoon memorial sighting @ the corner of Yonge n Church. #DeadRaccoonTO

The original raccoon spotter passed by again at 8:20 p.m. He tagged the city yet again to get service. His original tweet was posted almost 12 hours earlier.

@norm @311Toronto 8:20 pm. Come on, Animal Services.

Seriously, that poor raccoon.

@jasonwagar @norm @311Toronto 12 hours and nothing? Poor little dude.

With the city falling down on the job, the Greatest Tweeting Councillor took over. @Norm bugged the city again.

The sidewalk memorial is growing, @311Toronto. H/T @jasonwagar. #DeadRaccoonTO

He thought of a fitting tribute to an animal that is renowned for its compost-bin opening prowess.

Residents are being asked to keep their green bins open tonight in honour of #DeadRaccoonTO.

And then he dropped a Drake reference.

Drake reacting to #DeadRaccoonTO.

The raccoon and the seemingly spontaneous memorial to it elicited some strong reactions. @Norm saw an opportunity for humour in the face of municipal incompetence. Others were disgusted with how people treated the dead animal.

The whole #DeadRaccoonTO thing is disgusting. Haven't been so embarrassed to say I'm from #Toronto in a long time.

This guy thought it was sick and funny.

We Torontonians are a sick bunch. But funny. #DeadRaccoonTO https://t.co/1QjdM3M2yt

Though some thought the poor dead raccoon actually brought a city together.

Toronto has earned the "Toronto the Good" moniker with #deadraccoonTO

I don't really understand how the magic that is #DeadRaccoonTO is happening, but it is fantastic that our city can come together for this.

As the night wore on, the raccoon was given a candlelight vigil.

A donation box appeared to help give the little fella a "proper burial."

Someone has added a donation box beside the dead raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO

And then, just after 11 p.m., a city van pulled up. This freelance journalist was there to capture the historic moment.

BREAKING: City of Toronto has arrived to remove the dead raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO

Yes, after more than 14 hours lying in the street, #DeadRaccoonTo was about to be taken away.

The city of Toronto worker is now preparing to remove the raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO

The worker placed the raccoon in a garbage bag as a small crowd watched, mostly in silence. "Seriously guys, it's a dead raccoon," the worker said. He was oblivious to the moment, to how this dead raccoon had united so many.

Here is The City of Toronto worker removing the raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO

People lit one last candle.

One last candle for our little buddy Conrad. #DeadRaccoonTO

@Norm gave the eulogy.

#DeadRaccoonTO is now gone but will never be forgotten. Picture courtesy of @KrisReports. #RIP

RIP #DeadRaccoonTO. We hope you found peace.

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