Authorities seek to identify man who burned raccoon with a blowtorch

Man seen on video chasing raccoon with blowtorch

San Francisco Animal Care and Control officers are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was caught on video wielding a blowtorch and chasing a raccoon.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Animal Care and Control officers are asking for the public's help in identifying a man who was caught on video wielding a blowtorch and chasing a raccoon.

Rebecca Fenson, a supervisor with Animal Care and Control, said the department received two videos of the incident, one of which appeared to show the animal had already been burned.

"(The man) is holding what appears to be a blowtorch. He's chasing the raccoon and it's trying to get away from him. It sort of turns around and looks, then turns again to get away, and the man's arm is outstretched with this blowtorch," Fenson said. "The raccoon does appear to already have a burn scar on his back at that time. And then the unidentified person runs away."

Fenson said a San Francisco resident emailed the videos, which were captured on their home security camera, to the department, which is seeking to identify the man to prevent other, similar incidents.

Raccoon Blowtorch Video

Security footage captured a man in San Francisco with a blowtorch chasing a raccoon.

"It's probable or likely that this person has harmed animals, especially wildlife, before this. It does appear that he had already burned the raccoon and was still pursuing it, which shows a mentality of someone who is perhaps familiar with cruelty to animals. It should be noted that people who hurt animals are often capable of hurting humans. It's just violence," Fenson said.

Cruelty to animals is a criminal offense, though that term is more of an umbrella label than a single charge, Fenson said. There are different laws concerning domestic animals and wildlife. In this case, given the animal is a wild raccoon, the charge would qualify as harassment of wildlife, which is a misdemeanor.

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Raccoons are notorious troublemakers, well-known for raiding residential garbage cans and commercial dumpsters in search of food. However, Fenson said, that behavior shouldn't be interpreted as aggressive — it's just raccoons being raccoons.

"We don't usually hear about raccoons chasing humans, or dogs, or physically attacking. That's not normally what happens," Fenson said. "They might do damage to property, like climbing houses and leaving scratch marks, or messing up a porch or something, but that's not being aggressive, they're just living."

"There was one aggressive individual in that video and that was the human."

Fenson said that people who encounter raccoons should leave them alone, or ignore them. One of the only times a raccoon would give someone cause for concern is when it's accompanied by it's young. Even in that case, the best tactic is to walk away and leave the animal alone, Fenson said. Alternatively, 'hazing' — stamping feet, clapping hands, playing music or making other loud noise — is a good way to drive raccoons away.

"Wildlife are opportunistic. They're looking for the same things we are: food, water and shelter," Fenson said. "If they find an area is not hospitable, they'll leave and go somewhere else."

Fenson asked anyone with information about the video to contact San Francisco's Animal Care and Control Department, either via telephone at 415-554-9400, or via email at acc.dispatch@sfgov.org.