The White House Raccoons

Courtesy of www.dnr.sc.gov
Photo of two raccoons for those who might live in areas of the world in which raccoons are not a familiar sight.


(Today's raccoon news update follows this back story, thanks to R. of Illinois.)

February 6, 2009


The Washington Post



A 'Raccoon Update' from the White House






By Michael D. Shear





The raccoons are still at large!
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today that there have been no masked critters caught on the White House lawn today.
The raccoon issue exploded onto the political radar on Thursday with an exclusive Washington Post report that a single large raccoon and several medium-sized ones were roaming the grounds around the mansion and West Wing.






Here is the exchange with Gibbs at today's briefing:






QUESTION: It's Friday. Let's ask about the raccoons. Have you found the raccoons?



http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/02/06/a_raccoon_update_from_the_whit.html









http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/25/white-house-menace-caught/

Posted: 11:03 PM ET

From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

(CNN) — After weeks on the run, officials have nabbed a fugitive who infiltrated White House grounds: on Wednesday, they announced the capture of one of the raccoons raising mayhem around the executive mansion over the last month.

White House spokesman Bill Burton confirms the National Park Service has captured at least one of the particularly ambitious mammals and released it safely in an "undisclosed location."

The pesky intruders were first spotted roaming the premises early this month, and have since proved to be a repeated nuisance for National Park Service officials charged with maintaining the White House grounds.

The matter even made its way to one of the White House daily briefings with reporters, when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged the difficulty officials were having in catching the animals.Several traps were set up around the White House lawn in early February after it was determined that one large raccoon and several smaller ones were the chief mischief doers.The traps had included peanut butter and apples as bait, but it was ultimately salmon that did the trick, Burton said.



D.B.