Rotting racoon dangles from Toronto shed for days, irking residents
John-Peter Dobie climbs a ladder on top of the garage behind his Maybourne Avenue home in East York.
He points out the carcass of a dead racoon hanging vertically from the top of a shed less than a metre from his property line.
There’s a pungent, unmistakable smell wafting from the animal, which has been decomposing for four days.
Dobie and his wife typically spend their summer evenings in the backyard, but since the rotting raccoon has been roasting in the summer heat, that’s not possible.
“The (last) four nights, we’ve been inside,” said Dobie, who contacted Global News out of frustration.
The stranded raccoon got hung up in the wood exterior of the shed on Friday. By Saturday, it was struggling, but alive.
Dobie recorded video of the animal and got in touch with the owner of the property, who lives nearby, and with the city of Toronto.
“We contacted the neighbour, contacted the city and they said they can’t do anything about it. An hour later, the raccoon died,” Dobie said.
‘A serious health hazard’
Brad Gates, founder of Gates Wildlife Control, visited Dobie’s home with Global News.
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“It was easily solvable had someone responded quickly enough,” Gates said, after viewing the area where the animal perished.
“If we had got the call we would have cut the wood to let it out.”
But the dead raccoon was on the neighbour’s property, a home construction project that began more than six years ago. Dobie was powerless to do anything on his own.
When Dobie contacted 311 Toronto, he was advised by email that: “Unfortunately, Toronto Animal Services does not collect wildlife from private property.”
Dobie said he asked the neighbour and contractors working on the property several times to remove the animal.
He even posted a notice on the neighbour’s door, including a photo of the deceased animal with this text: “Please remove this dead animal which is clearly visible from our yard. It has been there since July 5 and the smell has gotten so bad. This is a serious health hazard. We have a baby. We cannot use our yard.”
He said he got no response.
When a Global News crew arrived at the neighbour’s home on Wednesday, the owner of the property was standing on an adjacent driveway.
“I don’t want talk to you, please get off my property,” said Alex, who refused repeatedly to give his last name.
Asked by Global News why he hadn’t removed the dead raccoon yet, Alex offered this explanation.
“I’ve been busy,” he said, as he clutched two large garbage bags and headed to the backyard.
Global News returned to Dobie’s yard on the other street to watch as Alex climbed a ladder and pulled down the dead animal.
If contacted, the City of Toronto will dispose of dead animals free of charge if they are wrapped up in bags and left on the curb.
Professional wildlife companies can also be contracted to remove animals from someone’s property and, for a fee, they will also dispose of the remains.
“Look for companies that offer a free estimate, you want someone onsite to look at it,” instead of giving a blanket estimate over the phone, said Gates, whose company has been in business for 41 years
At this point, Dobie and his wife are grateful they can make use of their back yard again in a neighbourhood populated by large numbers of raccoons.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
A new poll by Leger has found that Quebec residents are the happiest in Canada.
The web survey of nearly 40,000 Canadians found that Quebecers rated their happiness at an average of 72.4 out of 100, which is well above the national average.
New Brunswick followed Quebec with an average of 70.2, while Manitoba and Prince Edward Island finished at the bottom of the list.
Mississauga, Ont. had the highest happiness rating of the 10 largest cities, while Toronto was lowest.
Montreal finished second in the category.
The survey found that 49 per cent of respondents said their happiness level was unchanged over the past year, while 23 per said they were happier and 28 per cent said they were less happy.
“These results reveal a population that is both resilient and tested, affected by everyday uncertainty and challenges,” Leger’s executive summary read. “Happiness, while holding its ground overall, shows signs of fragility.”
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The survey found that people in the 18-to-24 and 24-to-34-year-old categories were more likely to report improved feelings of well-being, even if their overall happiness score remained below the national average.
In contrast, people in the 35-to-44 and 45-to-54 age brackets were more likely to report their happiness had deteriorated.
“There is a sense of well-being emerging among younger age groups,” the summary read. “However, this also highlights the importance of supporting adults in mid-life, who are more vulnerable to the pressures of working life.”
Quebec, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador were the three provinces with happiness levels above the national average of 68.7. They were followed, in descending order, by Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Manitoba and P.E.I. The territories were not included in the survey.
In the survey of the 10 largest cities, Mississauga and Montreal finished ahead of Hamilton, Calgary, Brampton, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Toronto, in that order.
Women reported slightly higher happiness levels than men, at 69.4 versus 68.0.
Leger says the overall results confirm “a level of happiness that is relatively high but stagnant or even slightly down compared to the pre-pandemic period.”
To get the results, Leger surveyed 39,841 Canadians aged 18 and up between March 31 and April 13.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Ontario Provincial Police are set to host a town hall in Quadeville, Ont., this evening to answer questions from residents about an attack on an eight-year-old child that was initially linked to an animal.
Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy in the case and he faces charges of attempted murder and sexual assault with a weapon.
Members of the small community 170 kilometres west of Ottawa say they were in shock after hearing about the arrest and hope to get clarity at today’s event in the town’s community centre.
Local resident Christine Hudder says she wants to know how police came up with the animal attack theory and why families were told for days to keep their children indoors.
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The victim was found with life-threatening injuries on June 24 after she was reported missing, and remains in hospital.
Police say they are planning to give as much information as possible to locals given that an investigation is still underway.
A Burlington, Ont., mother was unsettled to discover that an old photo of her children had been used in a fraudulent GoFundMe that attempted to elicit donations in connection the recent Texas floods.
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to say that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
“She reached out to me and she was like, ‘Hey, here’s a link to a GoFundMe. Sorry this has happened to you, but obviously a picture of your kids has been used without your consent and it’s being used for a GoFundMe to raise money, to help a family dealing with the Texas floods,’” she said.
Cole explained that the fake GoFundMe, which has since been removed by the company, was looking for donations to support a widowed mother of six kids in connection.
At least 120 people have died while more than 100 others remain unaccounted for as a result of the flooding, including 27 children and councilors from Camp Mystic.
“They were trying to raise $40,000 because of the three daughters had been victims of the Texas floods,” Cole said. “And the way it was presented felt very much like they were part of maybe that girl’s camp.”
Julie Cole told Global News that a friend had contacted her on social media to make that an old photo of her six children was being used in an attempt to collect ill-gotten gains.
Provided
Cole said once the listing was sent to her, she immediately contacted GoFundMe to get the fundraiser taken down.
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By Wednesday morning, the company had done so and in a statement to Global News, GoFundMe said that the fundraiser did not receive any donations and the account has been banned from creating any further fundraisers on the platform.
“GoFundMe has the most robust donor protection processes of any platform of our kind. We have round the clock trust and safety support, humans and technology making sure funds will get to where they are intended,” the statement offered.
After contacting the company, Cole said she shared the incident on her social media pages to raise awareness.
“So I did put it on my Facebook and I put it in my LinkedIn as like a heads-up learning experience kind of thing and there was a lot of outrage,” she said.
Cole also noted that while she is disappointed by the incident, she is well aware that her troubles are miniscule in comparison to those affected by the flooding.
“I do feel a little bit in myself that what I’m feeling is in no way comparable to what the actual families are feeling who have gone through the tragedies of the flooding,” she said.
The photo came from an old blog post she had written 16 years ago. Cole can date the picture as the baby in the photo is now getting ready to go for his driver’s test.
“I’m one of those, like, OG mommy bloggers from 20 years ago. So my kids have been on the internet. They have been sort of in the public eye,” she explained.
“And I know the risk is out there. And I think parents need to remember that, that their kids’ photos can be just screenshotted and used without consent. So there’s one lesson.
“I felt a little, well, very unsettled about it, particularly because of what it was being used for.”
In addition to being a parenting blogger, she also helped found Mabel’s Labels, which offers washable labels for kids clothing and other school items, in an effort to keep them out of the lost and found.
Julie Cole and her six kids in 2025.
Provided
Being a spokesperson for the company while raising six kids keeps her in the parenting sphere and she offered some other advice to parents about the images and social media.
“I think parents just have to be mindful and aware that once it’s out there, you know you’d like to think you’ll get consent or you’ll give consent if somebody asks or they want to use it, but people will just take it and they can just take,” she said.
“You have to be especially careful now with AI, because these photos can be altered.”
She also warned parents to check with their kids as they get older to see if they are OK with pics being posted and that people should be mindful of where they are sharing their donations.
“Another lesson out of this is people need to really be cautious and know where they’re putting their fundraising dollars,” Cole said.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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