An Imported Pest.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7854, 21 June 1905, Page 3

An Imported Pest.

STORY OP TWO AMERICAN RACOONS. EXHIBITED AT BOTOKUA. PREFERRED LIFE IN THE OPEN. ! The Wellington correspondent of the j N.Z. Herald says;— - • The North Island settler will)'not i be at all pleased to hear that tho i North American racoon has been ad- | dad to the list) of animal pests he ] may have to encounter in the future. ; A few months ago a number of wild I animals arrived a* Auckland from j America, consigned to the New Zealand Government. They were chiefly ! sport animals of the deer class, wa- - pit), moose, etc., including a present of a dozen wapiti from President Roosevelt. There were also canvasback ducks and a number of other . classes of game, to nil of which the acclimatisation societies said " Hear, 1 hear." Hut incidentally there were 1 two racoons. Nobody knows where i they (jame from, or why they were j Considered desirable animals to bring ! to New Zfealand. The racoon is not a sporting animal, an'd he is most ; unpopular in America, except in the form in which! he isi usually seerir- j around ladies' necks. "He has a repu- j tation for committing great slaughter amongst both' wild and domesticated birds, often destroying them for love of tho occupation, without oat- 1 ing more than a morsel or two. Ho also rarvag^e' fruit* aliti yoim filaatj crops, so the farmers will be fairly unanimous in their welcome of the new pest. When tho menagerie arrived the different animals ant*birds were handed over to tne Tourist Department, by which they were distributed to the parts of the colony they were best suited to ; but nobody knew much about the racoon, and as Mr Donne was out of the country it was deciSed to keep the animals lor exhibition ill the sanatorium grounds at Rotorua. Tfrere f they would be now if they had not escaped- This is what has happened. According to a private letter received from a gentleman in Auckland, who takes a great interest in acclimatisation matters,he recently went to the grounds for tire express purpose of inspecting the rncoonsi, but they, were not to be seen, and he learned that they had escaped within a few weeks of l>eing received. The litter oi the racoon is two or three, so any mas ' who shoots one or more of these fox-fac-ed creatures within the next month' or two will be doing a kindness to the New Zealand farmer and poultry keejier.