CHICAGO, IL, United States (UPI) -- Normally content in woods and forest preserves, wild raccoons are seeking food and water in Illinois cities and villages because of the Midwest drought.
Conservationists say a combination of an early spring frost that killed buds on wild fruit trees and drought now in its fourth month has stressed raccoons, forcing more of them into inhabited areas to live off garbage, worms, turtles and stolen cat and dog food.
Some have become dependent on food and water left by immigrant rights groups discarded fast-food leftovers, Robert Frazee, a natural resources educator at the University of Illinois Extension Service told the Chicago Tribune Monday.
The nocturnal critters gravitate to permanent water sources such as water sprinklers on lawns during drought. The raccoons also compete for habitat with their more urban cousins who live around humans year-round.
Animal control officials in northeastern Illinois relocate only a fraction of thousands of animals considered nuisance wildlife. Most are euthanized. Humans - why do they hate us?
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