Raccoon Threat Emerges In Second Borough; Residents Decry Brash Manner, Unneighborly Disposition And Frighteningly High Birthrate

Raccoons are running rampant through Forest Hills, worrying residents and killing at least one pet in the past six months, officials said.

Some of the masked critters live in Forest Park and near some abandoned railroad tracks. But others are now making homes in people’s yards, said Barbara Stuchinski, president of the Forest Hills Community and Civic Association.

“If these guys keep multiplying at this rate, they will overrun [the neighborhood],” she said.

A five-raccoon family recently built a nest in a Manse St. tree, and its members even disrupted a barbecue by grabbing some of a man’s food, Stuchinski said.

J.R. Nocerino said the raccoons living in an evergreen tree near his 68th Ave. house could pose a threat to his three children, ages 5, 9 and 13.

“If you saw the size of them — I don’t want to tangle with them, certainly not my kids,” Nocerino said, comparing the animals’ size to that of a small dog.

The raccoons are also a threat to pets. Stuchinski said a raccoon killed a kitten about six months ago, and Nocerino said he once saw a raccoon grab another kitten and run away with it in its mouth.

Neither could confirm rumors that a puppy and several week-old kittens were eaten by raccoons in late December.

Earlier: The Improbable Journey.

See elsewhere: “Great Moments in Journalism: There Goes the Neighborhood”.