Raccoons in Calgary? Yup

There's plenty of wildlife in Calgary deer, coyotes, skunks and more but some Calgarians are not convinced raccoons are part of the mix.

The Calgary Eyeopener looked into it, and there is evidence of the striped grey and black critters roaming around a house in Deer Run in the city's southeast.

"I just have cameras on my house largely to record two-legged bandits," said Scott Olson, who inadvertently caught footage of araccoon."I saw him wandering around the lawn on my video."

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Calgary wildlife experts say climate change and development are causing more and more raccoons to move into the city.

"This is making Alberta a little bit more friendly for raccoons. We're seeing them expand north throughout the province," said Chris Fisher, biologist and author of Mammals of Alberta.

Fisher says they move into neighbourhoods with bodies of water, butCalgary's cold winters help keep raccoon populations low.

"No urgency to go buying raccoonproof containers just yet," he said.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener