Raccoon doesn't make it to the Woodlands Zoo

A clash of philosophies and a case of he said-she said has led to a rift between the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Noah's Ark animal shelter in Fayette County.

The situation came to a head late last week with the demise of "Melissa," a 16-year-old raccoon taken, along with 33 dogs and seven cats, by animal control officers from a Perry Township home March 11.

While Noah's Ark was permitted to accept the dogs and cats, the raccoon required special placement with a properly licensed shelter, said Robin Moore, executive director of Noah's Ark.

Moore said Woodlands Zoo in Farmington agreed to accept Melissa, and Matt Hough, law enforcement officer for the Game Commission's Southwest Region, agreed to have one of his officers transport the animal to the zoo.

"She couldn't be released in the wild, and I just wanted her to spend her last few months or years in a nice place where her feet could touch the ground," Moore said.

But Melissa never made it to the zoo.

Steve Leiendecker, a wildlife conservation officer for southern Fayette County, said he picked up the animal last week from Noah's Ark. He said while en route to the zoo, he talked to Woodlands officials and found that taking the raccoon "really wasn't something they wanted to do."

"I was led to believe it was friendly and passive, but that wasn't the case. It was aggressive," Leiendecker said. "I tried to find a suitable place for it, but I couldn't, so it was humanely put down and tested for rabies."

Woodlands proprietor Sonny Herring confirmed he talked to Leiendecker and was told the raccoon was "hugely overweight and not in good health."

Herring said he left the decision about the raccoon up to Leiendecker.

"I told him we would take it based on his evaluation, and in Steve's judgment, it was not an appropriate animal for our zoo. We have to abide by their policies," Herring said, noting his five-acre walk-through facility has been licensed by the state for 17 years and open to the public for seven years.

Leiendecker also said the raccoon had been exposed to dozens of dogs that had not been immunized against rabies.

"I feel really bad about the whole thing, but I was concerned about public safety, and didn't think I had a choice," Leiendecker said.

Game Commission employee Matt Hough accepted some responsibility, acknowledging he had promised Moore the animal wouldn't be killed and saying there was some lack of communication between him and Leiendecker.

"Basically, we were just trying to be nice guys, going against typical commission protocol," Hough said.

Hough explained that in cases of human contact with a rabies-vector animal, such as a raccoon, skunk or fox, the animal must be killed and checked for rabies.

"It's just not worth some human being getting rabies over a raccoon," Hough said. "I'm probably the one at fault, because we shouldn't have gone out of the scope of protocol. Steve was just doing what he was supposed to do."

But Moore wasn't happy with Hough's or Leiendecker's explanations.

"This is the third time I've been lied to by the commission about animals. My perspective is to save the animals, not to kill them," Moore said.

Hough said he and Moore look at the situation differently.

"We look at wildlife from the point of view of public safety and perpetuation of the species, while Robin is concerned about the individual animal," Hough said. "You can't ignore the fact it's still a wild animal, and the reason it had to be put down was that it was taken out of the wild in the first place."

"This is just another case where an animal is removed from a bad situation and still ends up dead," said an emotional Moore. "I'm to the point now that I'm ready to turn in my badge. I'm supposed to protect animals, and I'm just getting them killed."