Gangs Strike Fear Along Canals in Venice Ca.

Be afraid.... very afraid.

"If you live in a high-crime area and don't put bars on your windows and you've had break-ins before, you're asking for it,"  ( Quote from Law Enforcement Official. )

"Venice Canals, a community of 400 homes, is the kind of place where nearby shopkeepers greet customers and their dogs by name and often have a bowl of water or dog biscuits on hand. One resident turned part of his property into a dog park." ( Reporter description of neighborhood. )

Several years ago I discovered this little enclave on a visit to Venice Beach, and spent an enjoyable afternoon wandering along its by-ways....

Now I am wondering just how safe it is to do so.

Violent attacks on residents have occurred at all hours of the day, and night.

One balmy summer night, Larna Hartnack awoke to the cries of her dog Charlie and, to her horror, found the Dalmatian in a battle for her life — pinned by a gang of raccoons that tore into her flesh and nearly gnawed off her tail....

Dogs have not been the only victims of the raccoons. They have chomped on ducks, a parrot and the legs of a turtle that they dug out of hibernation. Nadine Parkos, former president of the Venice Canals homeowners association, said the koi fish in her pond were massacred.

And what is Law Enforcement doing about these violent criminals?

Communities around the country are plagued by destructive or aggressive raccoons, and many of them routinely trap, remove and even kill the animals. But this being California, the city's animal-control agency is instead urging people to try to get along with the raccoons — a notion that strikes some as political correctness gone wild.

Can't we all just get along?

Awww.... ain't that just soooo sweet?

"What we're trying to inculcate in the L.A. community is a reverence for life. If we have more reverence for life, it translates into all our programs — for women and infants, the elderly and everybody in our community," said Ed Boks, the head of Los Angeles Animal Services.

"As we develop these programs that demonstrate our compassion for creatures completely at our mercy, it makes for a more compassionate society all the way around."

ASSHAT!

Wildlife Experts are swooning over this guy, while some women are insulted by the comparison to a raccoon, and many of the humans in the area are arming themselves to fight back, and protect their families, and the right to walk the mutt, and allow the dog, and cat, to hang outdoors when they want.

While I agree that coexistence is important, and making changes to certain routines might be called for....

Randall said raccoons do not attack unless cornered.

He advised residents to try to keep raccoons out of their homes by getting rid of trellises and bougainvillea, closing cat doors and locking up kibble. Strobe lights, motion-activated sprinklers and talk radio can scare off the animals.

.... the responsible agencies should do more to reduce the gang population, and activity, in the neighborhood.

You know.... get court injunctions preventing gang members from congregating in certain locations, and in groups not related to the immediate family unit. ;-D

Full story, with pictures: Raccoons Invade Los Angeles Neighborhood.