A Saskatoon family is being forced to move out of their city apartment after animal services found out about their pet raccoon Dennis
Wendy Hook and her husband have been nursing the five-year-old raccoon since she was born, and have lived in their apartment with the animal for three years.
They were given until the end of the month to move, after animal control officers in the city received a tip about Dennis. Raccoons are prohibited as pets in Saskatoon, according to the city’s animal bylaws.
Sending Dennis into the wild, or rehabilitating her to be put into the wild, is not an option, Hook said.
“We took her from the wild. She doesn’t know anything and so her care is totally in our hands,” she said. “People talk about having her rehabilitated for being put back in the wild. How do you rehabilitate something or someone who has never experienced this? She’s never eaten anything from the wild. Everything we provide for her.”
The R.M. of Corman Park will allow the family to live in the rural municipality with Dennis, but Hook said the couple has not yet been able to find landlords who will accept the raccoon.
