Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 7, 2018 Share #1 Posted November 7, 2018 Aggressive raccoons have invaded MTA bus depots By Danielle Furfaro and Sarah Trefethen November 6, 2018 | 10:33pm Grand Avenue Bus Depot and Central Maintenance Facility in Queens. STEPHEN YANG Two MTA bus depots are being targeted by bandits — cute, furry bandits. An invasion of aggressive raccoons has been plaguing the Grand Avenue Bus Depot in Queens and the Jackie Gleason Depot in Brooklyn for several months, The Post has learned. Workers are complaining that the agency is doing little to drive away the ring-tailed pests, which are bullying the workers’ beloved cats and leaving drivers fearing they may get bitten by a rabid animal. “I come to work in the middle of the night and I never know if there are raccoons in the buses, between the buses or under a bus,” said operator Joey Vasquez, who works out of the Grand Avenue facility in Maspeth. “I’m scared I’ll be attacked.” Vasquez said some of his colleagues are making the situation worse in a misguided attempt to help the neighborhood’s stray felines. “Whoever is feeding the cats is also feeding the raccoons,” he said. The raccoons are clearly well fed, say drivers. “One of them is like this,” said 17-year MTA veteran Justo Marquez, 59, holding his hands 2½ feet apart. One raccoon is cute, he said, but still makes him nervous. “If I’m walking at night and we have a close encounter, maybe he’s scared, I’m scared, and if he bites or scratches me I could get rabies. But I like it from a distance.” The raccoons also harass the cats, said one dispatcher. “I think they beat up the cats,” the 49-year-old MTA worker said, pointing to a the ceiling where he says the “masked” marauders lurk by the vents. “One of the cats has some marks on him.” Tramell Thompson, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 member who leads its activist group Progressive Action, posted a photo on Twitter of one of the massive raccoons climbing up a pipe in the Grand Avenue depot. Meanwhile, at the Gleason facility, the raccoons live in the ceiling ductwork and come down nightly to scrounge for food out of the trash that riders leave on the buses, said driver Roberto Martinez. “There is an abundance of them,” he said. Not only are there raccoons, but the Gleason depot is home to a menagerie of other creatures, including possums, pigeons and hawks, said Tommy McNally, the Local 100 safety director. MTA officials didn’t immediately return requests for comment. Source: https://nypost.com/2018/11/06/aggressive-raccoons-have-invaded-mta-bus-depots/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted November 7, 2018 Author Share #2 Posted November 7, 2018 I wouldn't be laughing. Those raccoons are no joke. I have them in my neighborhood and one almost jumped out at me one night. They hide anywhere. They usually don't attack humans, but they will if they feel threatened. They are known to carry rabies for sure, so there's that to consider. Could be a lawsuit waiting to happen... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R68OnBroadway Posted November 8, 2018 Share #3 Posted November 8, 2018 I wonder: If they have cats hunting the rats, do they have dogs somewhere that they can use to hunt raccoons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainfan22 Posted November 8, 2018 Share #4 Posted November 8, 2018 Pigeons and Hawks are living in the same place? Interesting as Hawks eat Pigeons so I'm surprised they are hanging around their predators. JG employees should be lucky they are able to find Hawks so easily as I go out of my to look for those birds and have yet to find one. Funny story though, I seen a Raccoon IRL up close in Central Park at night a couple years ago, their a lot bigger in person than I expected them to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobtehpanda Posted November 9, 2018 Share #5 Posted November 9, 2018 Cats these days have it hard: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted November 9, 2018 Share #6 Posted November 9, 2018 Hmpf, raccoons.... I see the family (not a family, the family... it's that common) of 'em at least twice a week when I leave for work in the morning (anywhere from 4:45-5am).... There have been a couple of times in this calendar year where (at least) one of them darted from under my car as I'm making my way towards the door.... It's gotten to the point now that every morning, I shine my LED light under the car, then stomp or clap, just to make sure one doesn't scurry across my foot again (claws didn't penetrate through my shoe, luckily for me).... Yes, those things carry rabies & if that EVER happens to me again, I'm off-ing these f***ing things on sight (protected species or not).... I don't want it to get to that point. This is the direct result of all this clear cutting that's going on in the tri-state area, ravaging the natural habitat of these wildlife animals.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QM1to6Ave Posted November 9, 2018 Share #7 Posted November 9, 2018 I've seen an increase in raccoons around the city as well. As B35 said, usually around the pre-dawn hours Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aemoreira81 Posted November 10, 2018 Share #8 Posted November 10, 2018 Gleason doesn't surprise me given that a cemetery is across the street. What wildlife center is there near Grand Avenue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B35 via Church Posted November 10, 2018 Share #9 Posted November 10, 2018 9 hours ago, aemoreira81 said: Gleason doesn't surprise me given that a cemetery is across the street. What wildlife center is there near Grand Avenue? What wildlife center is there near Gleason? Anyway, Newtown Creek is perfect for raccoons.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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