Cliffs....don't feed the c00ns. 
and the author used cadavers instead of carcasses, thus the thread and wordplay!
Toronto Vows to Outsmart Its Racc00ns
Toronto Vows to Outsmart Its Racc00ns
Hoping to stymie critters, city will roll out new green bins; ‘Defeat is not an option’
http://m.wsj.net/video/20150823/082315racc00n/082315racc00n_167x94.jpg
Toronto residents have had a problem with racc00ns breaking into their trash cans. But now the city is introducing new bins meant to stop the critters from getting in. Photo: The City of Toronto
By Jane Gerster
Updated Aug. 23, 2015 9:30 p.m. ET
TORONTO—Last fall, Suzanne MacDonald spent a week tempting racc00ns into her Toronto-area backyard every night with rotisserie chickens locked inside organic-waste bins.
A racc00n in Toronto
At one point, “I had like 12 racc00ns on one bin trying to get in,” said Ms. MacDonald, an animal behavior researcher who was testing bin prototypes for the city. None succeeded, she said, but “they did try mightily.”
Ms. MacDonald is on the front lines of Toronto’s war on racc00ns, which are ubiquitous in the backyards, ravines and alleys of Canada’s largest city. Although their exact number isn’t known, they are accused of ripping up lawns, destroying gardens, and defecating in garages and on rooftops and decks.
The battle between the city’s residents and its backyard wildlife is increasingly playing out over the disposal of organic waste. Residents’ green bins—which the city collects weekly at the curb—offer a smorgasbord for racc00ns and have helped their numbers increase. Torontonians say it is tough to keep the bins sealed and the animals away.
Last spring, the city selected the biggest weapon yet in its arsenal against the racc00n: new organic-waste containers meant to foil the famously clever critters. The original bins, introduced in 2002, were designed to be “racc00n proof,” but quickly proved otherwise.
“The members of Racc00n Nation are smart, they’re hungry and they’re determined,” Mayor John Tory told reporters in April when he unveiled the new green bins. The bins, which feature a turn lock, will cost the city 31 million Canadian dollars ($23.6 million) and are to be rolled out next year.
The Toronto street where residents created a memorial to a dead racc00n in July. The city says it typically collects hundreds of racc00n cadavers a month. Photo: Liam Casey/The Canadian Press/AP
“Defeat is not an option,” Mr. Tory said. “There’s probably nothing that represents more of a nuisance in a big city like this than the feasting of the racc00ns on the contents of the green bin.”
Toronto was one of the first North American cities to introduce a mandatory green-bin program, as part of an effort to keep local landfills from overflowing and after years of a highly contentious cross-border garbage-disposal program in Michigan.
As with similar efforts in other cities, including San Francisco and New York, Toronto’s program has helped reduce the amount of organic waste the city sends to landfills. But Toronto’s program has seemed to increase tensions between humans and racc00ns.
San Francisco hasn’t seen a notable increase in animal foraging, according to spokesman Robert Reed, though he said some residents whose homes back onto open spaces use a bungee cord to keep bins closed. City workers in San Francisco will remove a bungee cord when they pick up the trash, he said. Toronto requires residents to remove any devices meant to deter racc00ns before pickup.
New York’s organics-collection pilot program is voluntary and its latched bin requires “thumbs to open it up,” spokeswoman Belinda Mager said, adding she wasn’t aware of any problems related to racc00ns or other animals.
A racc00n eats from a bin that has been secured with a bungee strap. Photo: Randy Risling/The Toronto Star/ZUMA PRESS
Many Torontonians say that no matter what they do—weight the top of their bins, hide them under porches, hang them from fences, buy strapping to secure the bin—racc00ns eventually figure out how to open them.
“Every night it was just a mess outside,” said Chris Smith, a resident of the city’s west end. “The racc00ns were beating us up big time.”
His backyard racc00ns worked their way easily through bungee cords and tie-down ropes, Mr. Smith said. “They’re smart enough that they can stretch it,” he said. “A slight crack is all they need.”
It wasn’t until Mr. Smith tried hanging his green bins from the side of his house on the recommendation of a friend that his problems were solved. “They can’t get the leverage they need,” he said, and “we’ve not had a single issue since.”
Ms. MacDonald believes the growing intelligence of Toronto’s racc00ns may be linked to the efforts people have put into outwitting them.
Her research, which has received financial backing from the National Geographic Society, suggests urban racc00ns are smarter than their “country cousins,” driven to new heights of intelligence by the humans working so diligently to outsmart them by creating obstacles.
“We’re creating our environment in such a way that they have to be able to figure them out in order to survive,” she said, “and those that figure them out will be smart and survive and pass on to their offspring.”
A lot of human-racc00n conflict mitigation, Ms. MacDonald said, is “sort of common sense.”
To that end, Toronto has set up a new working group which plans to focus on public education: Don’t feed the wildlife.
“I think it’s going to make up a really big component of the work that we do,” said Intiaz Ruffudeen, manager of policy and planning with the city’s municipal licensing and standards division. “Racc00ns have been identified as a major issue.”
While bylaws exist to prevent people from feeding wildlife on public spaces, there is nothing preventing Torontonians from feeding wildlife on private property, such as their backyard. The city group will look at whether such a law would be feasible.
Ms. MacDonald is currently trying to pinpoint areas of the city where racc00ns have caused more damage and where people “are much more likely to say they prefer a more draconian way to control the racc00n population.”
Racc00ns have pushed some Toronto residents to extremes. Dong Nguyen pleaded guilty in 2013 to animal cruelty for causing “unnecessary harm to a racc00n.” Police were called to his home in 2011 after receiving a complaint he was using a “shovel-type garden tool” to attack several young racc00ns in his yard.
While many publicly sympathized with Mr. Nguyen, Ms. MacDonald said, “a lot of people really love racc00ns.”
The city of Toronto says it typically collects hundreds of racc00n cadavers a month. Last month, the city said it picked up 549 dead racc00ns. A photo of one, found lying on a sidewalk, went viral.
The racc00n was dubbed “Conrad,” and the spot where it died became the site of a makeshift shrine which included a rose nestled in its paw, a framed photo of a racc00n, a bouquet of flowers, and the scrawled-out well wishes of strangers.
One wrote on a sticky note left next to Conrad: “Rest dear racc00n. Help is on the way from the city.”
and the author used cadavers instead of carcasses, thus the thread and wordplay!Toronto Vows to Outsmart Its Racc00ns
Toronto Vows to Outsmart Its Racc00ns
Hoping to stymie critters, city will roll out new green bins; ‘Defeat is not an option’
http://m.wsj.net/video/20150823/082315racc00n/082315racc00n_167x94.jpg
Toronto residents have had a problem with racc00ns breaking into their trash cans. But now the city is introducing new bins meant to stop the critters from getting in. Photo: The City of Toronto
By Jane Gerster
Updated Aug. 23, 2015 9:30 p.m. ET
TORONTO—Last fall, Suzanne MacDonald spent a week tempting racc00ns into her Toronto-area backyard every night with rotisserie chickens locked inside organic-waste bins.
A racc00n in Toronto
At one point, “I had like 12 racc00ns on one bin trying to get in,” said Ms. MacDonald, an animal behavior researcher who was testing bin prototypes for the city. None succeeded, she said, but “they did try mightily.”
Ms. MacDonald is on the front lines of Toronto’s war on racc00ns, which are ubiquitous in the backyards, ravines and alleys of Canada’s largest city. Although their exact number isn’t known, they are accused of ripping up lawns, destroying gardens, and defecating in garages and on rooftops and decks.
The battle between the city’s residents and its backyard wildlife is increasingly playing out over the disposal of organic waste. Residents’ green bins—which the city collects weekly at the curb—offer a smorgasbord for racc00ns and have helped their numbers increase. Torontonians say it is tough to keep the bins sealed and the animals away.
Last spring, the city selected the biggest weapon yet in its arsenal against the racc00n: new organic-waste containers meant to foil the famously clever critters. The original bins, introduced in 2002, were designed to be “racc00n proof,” but quickly proved otherwise.
“The members of Racc00n Nation are smart, they’re hungry and they’re determined,” Mayor John Tory told reporters in April when he unveiled the new green bins. The bins, which feature a turn lock, will cost the city 31 million Canadian dollars ($23.6 million) and are to be rolled out next year.
The Toronto street where residents created a memorial to a dead racc00n in July. The city says it typically collects hundreds of racc00n cadavers a month. Photo: Liam Casey/The Canadian Press/AP
“Defeat is not an option,” Mr. Tory said. “There’s probably nothing that represents more of a nuisance in a big city like this than the feasting of the racc00ns on the contents of the green bin.”
Toronto was one of the first North American cities to introduce a mandatory green-bin program, as part of an effort to keep local landfills from overflowing and after years of a highly contentious cross-border garbage-disposal program in Michigan.
As with similar efforts in other cities, including San Francisco and New York, Toronto’s program has helped reduce the amount of organic waste the city sends to landfills. But Toronto’s program has seemed to increase tensions between humans and racc00ns.
San Francisco hasn’t seen a notable increase in animal foraging, according to spokesman Robert Reed, though he said some residents whose homes back onto open spaces use a bungee cord to keep bins closed. City workers in San Francisco will remove a bungee cord when they pick up the trash, he said. Toronto requires residents to remove any devices meant to deter racc00ns before pickup.
New York’s organics-collection pilot program is voluntary and its latched bin requires “thumbs to open it up,” spokeswoman Belinda Mager said, adding she wasn’t aware of any problems related to racc00ns or other animals.
A racc00n eats from a bin that has been secured with a bungee strap. Photo: Randy Risling/The Toronto Star/ZUMA PRESS
Many Torontonians say that no matter what they do—weight the top of their bins, hide them under porches, hang them from fences, buy strapping to secure the bin—racc00ns eventually figure out how to open them.
“Every night it was just a mess outside,” said Chris Smith, a resident of the city’s west end. “The racc00ns were beating us up big time.”
His backyard racc00ns worked their way easily through bungee cords and tie-down ropes, Mr. Smith said. “They’re smart enough that they can stretch it,” he said. “A slight crack is all they need.”
It wasn’t until Mr. Smith tried hanging his green bins from the side of his house on the recommendation of a friend that his problems were solved. “They can’t get the leverage they need,” he said, and “we’ve not had a single issue since.”
Ms. MacDonald believes the growing intelligence of Toronto’s racc00ns may be linked to the efforts people have put into outwitting them.
Her research, which has received financial backing from the National Geographic Society, suggests urban racc00ns are smarter than their “country cousins,” driven to new heights of intelligence by the humans working so diligently to outsmart them by creating obstacles.
“We’re creating our environment in such a way that they have to be able to figure them out in order to survive,” she said, “and those that figure them out will be smart and survive and pass on to their offspring.”
A lot of human-racc00n conflict mitigation, Ms. MacDonald said, is “sort of common sense.”
To that end, Toronto has set up a new working group which plans to focus on public education: Don’t feed the wildlife.
“I think it’s going to make up a really big component of the work that we do,” said Intiaz Ruffudeen, manager of policy and planning with the city’s municipal licensing and standards division. “Racc00ns have been identified as a major issue.”
While bylaws exist to prevent people from feeding wildlife on public spaces, there is nothing preventing Torontonians from feeding wildlife on private property, such as their backyard. The city group will look at whether such a law would be feasible.
Ms. MacDonald is currently trying to pinpoint areas of the city where racc00ns have caused more damage and where people “are much more likely to say they prefer a more draconian way to control the racc00n population.”
Racc00ns have pushed some Toronto residents to extremes. Dong Nguyen pleaded guilty in 2013 to animal cruelty for causing “unnecessary harm to a racc00n.” Police were called to his home in 2011 after receiving a complaint he was using a “shovel-type garden tool” to attack several young racc00ns in his yard.
While many publicly sympathized with Mr. Nguyen, Ms. MacDonald said, “a lot of people really love racc00ns.”
The city of Toronto says it typically collects hundreds of racc00n cadavers a month. Last month, the city said it picked up 549 dead racc00ns. A photo of one, found lying on a sidewalk, went viral.
The racc00n was dubbed “Conrad,” and the spot where it died became the site of a makeshift shrine which included a rose nestled in its paw, a framed photo of a racc00n, a bouquet of flowers, and the scrawled-out well wishes of strangers.
One wrote on a sticky note left next to Conrad: “Rest dear racc00n. Help is on the way from the city.”