A Saskatoon couple is facing a tough decision – move out of their apartment, or give up their pet raccoon.
Wendy Hook and her husband, Ron, have had the raccoon, Dennis, since it was born five years ago. They’ve lived in their city apartment with the animal for three years without incident, until earlier this month.
“Someone maliciously reported that we had a raccoon,” Ron Hook told CTV Saskatoon.
Racoons are prohibited as pets according to Saskatoon bylaws, and animal control officers told the couple they have until June 30th to move or Dennis will be taken away.
But giving up Dennis isn’t an option, according to Wendy Hook.
“We couldn’t imagine a life without her,” Hook told CTV Saskatoon. “We took her from the wild. She doesn’t know anything and so her care is totally in our hands.”
The nearby municipality of Corman Park will allow the couple to live there with Dennis, but the couple says they’re having trouble finding a landlord who will accept the raccoon.
“As soon they hear the word raccoon, everybody’s got an idea of what they can do and how destructive they are,” Wendy Hook said. “So that’s what they think we would be bringing into their home, and it’s so not the case.”
The couple has started a GoFundMe page to help finance the move, which they say they’re not in the financial position to make at the moment.
They have a week to figure out their living situation, or they’ll have to resort to their back-up plan to ensure they can keep Dennis.
“It’s not a very good one,” Ron Hook said. “So far it’s living in our truck.”
With a report from CTV Saskatoon’s Stephanie Villella
