Bully raccoon taken into custody after squaring off with Rottweiler
By TIM GULLA Ledger Staff Writer tim@gaffneyledger.com

Blacksburg Police Chief Jamie Ham wasn't taking any chances with a potentially rabid raccoon Wednesday. The animal made its way into a yard where it went after a barking Rottweiler. Members of the Blacksburg Streets Department helped police collar the trespassing raccoon and it was locked up until state wildlife officials could be contacted.

Blacksburg Police Chief Jamie Ham has come across practically every type of situation as a police officer but he and other members of his department had to deal with one Wednesday that wasn't in police manuals.

"They don't teach you how to handle raccoons at the police academy," he half-heartedly joked as he and another officer gingerly retrieved an occupied animal trap from the back of his truck.

With the help of two volunteers from the streets department, police were able to take a trespassing raccoon into custody.

This was no ordinary raccoon, however.

This one was a bully.

The raccoon made its way into a fenced yard Wednesday morning on South Shelby Street, just a few blocks from the police station and it showed no signs of fear against humans or a barking Rottweiler in a nearby yard.

Blacksburg Police Chief Jamie Ham (right) and an assistant place the raccoon in a dog kennel.

The property owner, who was away from town for the day, said he received a report from his son that the raccoon came after him and then attacked their pet Rottweiler. The property owner feared a raccoon wouldn't be so bold unless it had rabies and he was worried both about neighborhood children and his dog before Blacksburg authorities were able to nab the perpetrator.

Ham said two members of the streets department fashioned their own animal control device out of a PVC pipe and rope so they could collar the raccoon and remove it from the yard. The Rottweiler appeared to be uninjured, but will be checked out.

Transported back to the Blacksburg Police Station, the raccoon was locked up in an empty dog kennel beside the building until police could figure out what to do with the animal.

Ham and Assistant Chief Al Phillips said they would most likely transfer custody of their prisoner to state wildlife officials.

Ham didn't know if the animal had rabies or not, but wasn't taking any chances. "You won't want to stick your hand in (the cage)," he said as the raccoon snapped at anything that came near it.

To avoid being scratched or bitten, Ham and Officer Phillips used a broomstick to move the cage out of the truck and into the kennel.