Volunteers hunting for three escaped raccoons

Volunteers are hunting for three escaped raccoons in Sunderland.

A trespasser let the animals out from their enclosure at Sunderland Training and Education Farm on 18 December, a farm spokesperson said.

“[I] think someone was after [the] birds of prey and didn’t realise we had moved our raccoons,” they said.

Since the escape, the animals are believed to have been sighted multiple times across Sunderland.

The missing raccoons are two females, Rocket and Pinch, and one male called Meeko.

Iain Jenkins, from Hartlepool, heads the volunteer group Raccoon Rescue UK, which is looking for the animals.

“Myself and two volunteers from Teesside have been going up regularly searching the area trying to identify and locate exactly where the animals are,” he said.

Humane traps

Mr Jenkins said one of his volunteers had spent most of Christmas Day in nearby woods trying to track the raccoons down.

The animals are most active between dusk and dawn, he said.

The team has been setting up humane traps and cameras to try and get the animals to safety.

It said the raccoons should be able to survive the winter as they have huge fat reserves and can eat earthworms, insects and rodents.

Mr Jenkins said he would not recommend people go out looking for the raccoons.

Although the animals are usually friendly, they can bite if they get frightened, he said.

“They do have a set of teeth and claws on them,” he said.

'It shocked us'

Wesley Fagan and his son said they spotted one of the raccoons on 20 January near Sunderland’s Ford football hub.

“I just couldn’t process what I was looking at,” said Mr Fagan. “It shocked us.”

Mr Fagan captured the mammal on camera as it scurried away.

“It didn’t look like it was struggling to eat,” he said. “It looked like it was healthy.”

Mr Jenkins said the first evening after their escape, one of the mammals was also spotted by the Metro line at South Hylton.

He said the birds of prey which were previously found in the raccoon enclosure were no longer kept at the farm.

The farm said no animals had been taken by the trespasser nor any damage done.