Live election results: Trump wins battleground states of Georgia, North Carolina
Former U.S. president Donald Trump won the swing state of Georgia on Wednesday, returning its 16 electoral votes to the Republican column.
Sheriff's deputies in Washington's Kitsap County frequently get calls about animals -- loose livestock, problem dogs. But the 911 call they received recently from a woman being hounded by dozens of raccoons swarming her home near Poulsbo stood out.
The woman reported having had to flee her property after 50 to 100 raccoons descended upon it and were acting aggressively, said Kevin McCarty, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office.
She told deputies she started feeding a family of raccoons decades ago and it was fine until about six weeks earlier, when the number showing up went from a handful to around 100.
"She said those raccoons were becoming increasingly more aggressive, demanding food, that they would hound her day and night -- scratching at the outside of her home, at the door.
If she pulled up her car, they would surround the car, scratch at the car, surround her if she went from her front door to her car or went outside at all," McCarty said.
"They saw this as a food source now, so they kept coming back to it and they kept expecting food."
It was not clear what caused their numbers to balloon suddenly. Both the sheriff's office and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife determined no laws were broken, McCarty said.
"This is a nuisance problem kind of her own making that she has to deal with," he said. Video from the sheriff's office shows raccoons milling around trees, and deputies who responded to the call observed 50 to 100 of them, he added.
Bridget Mire, a spokesperson with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, said by email that under state law it is illegal to feed large carnivores, such as bears or cougars. While municipalities or counties may have local statutes forbidding the feeding of other wildlife, it is currently not against state law to do so, she said.
Regardless, the agency discourages people from feeding wildlife. Raccoons, for example, can carry diseases, and food can also attract predators such as coyotes and bears, according to Mire.
The department referred the woman to wildlife control operators who are certified and able to capture and remove animals like raccoons, she said.
Poulsbo is about a 90-minute car and ferry ride northwest of Seattle.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump won the swing state of Georgia on Wednesday, returning its 16 electoral votes to the Republican column.
Donald Trump won the battleground state of North Carolina on Tuesday, fending off a challenge from Kamala Harris, who was looking to flip the state and expand her pathways to 270 electoral votes.
The 2024 presidential election already has exposed the depths of a fractured nation as the candidates navigated political shifts based on class, race and age under the near-constant threat of misinformation and violence.
MPs, diplomats and political staff gathered around the parliamentary precinct to anxiously take in preliminary results of a U.S. presidential election that they all agreed would have an enormous impact on Canada and the world.
Delaware state Sen. Sarah McBride has been elected to the U.S. House and will become the first openly transgender person to serve in Congress.
Two parents filed a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court last week seeking damages from their former nanny, alleging she quit on short notice and "never said goodbye to the children."
St. Louis Blues forward Dylan Holloway left Tuesday night's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning and departed the rink on a stretcher after being struck by a puck late in the first period.
A mortgage broker who totalled his Lamborghini and left a passenger with life-altering injuries after trying to pass a Toronto streetcar at nearly three times the speed limit has been handed a two-and-a-half year prison sentence.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck may be going through a divorce, but it sounds like things are amicable.
Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.
A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.
A Windsor teen’s social media post showing off a distinctive Windsor pizza topping has gone viral, drawing millions of views worldwide and sparking new curiosity about Windsor-style pizza.
Auston Matthews has come face to face with his look-alike. On Thursday, the Maple Leafs star met seven-year-old Grayson Joseph, who went viral for dressing up as an Auston Matthews hockey card.
A Halifax junk remover shares some of his company’s strangest discoveries.
When Leah arrived at work directing traffic around a construction site, she never expected to see a van painted in all sorts of bright colours, and covered in eclectic decorations, including a stuffed moose attached to its roof.
After 14 years of repairing and selling bicycles out of the garage of her home, a Guelph, Ont. woman’s efforts have ended – for now, at least.
Epcor says it has removed more than 20,000 goldfish from an Edmonton stormwater pond.
Witches and warlocks have been flocking to New Brunswick waterways this month, as a new Halloween tradition ripples across the province.