#DeadRaccoonTO honoured by Toronto with sidewalk vigil

Toronto took time out Thursdayto pay tribute to a bizarre (and possibly unsafe?) fellow denizen of the downtown.

The homagebegan with a harmless tweet to the city, after Jason Wagarcame across a lifelessraccoon on thesidewalk near the intersection of Yonge and Church streets shortly after 9 a.m. ET.

The city replied promptly, sayinganimal services had been contacted and the raccoon some on Twitter dubbed it Conradwould be whisked away shortly.

However,nobody showed up.

So amemorial began to take shape.

As Conrad lay on the sidewalk, he caught the attention of Norm Kelly, aToronto city councillor and Twitter legend.

After hours in the summer sun, thehashtag #DeadRacoonTOdrew ever more mourners to the scene, despite the fact dead raccoons can possibly carry diseases such as rabies.

Almost 12 hours later,Wagarwalked by the scene again and sparked a public shaming of the city's animal services.

As darkness descended, candles marked the raccoon's unceremonious deathbed.

Kelly then urged the people of Toronto to honour Conrad in perhaps the most fitting way possible: to leave their green bins open for the night. The city's green bins area sort of El Dorado for foraging raccoons.

Finally, around 11 p.m. ET, a worker arrived to take Conradto his final resting place.

In typical Norm Kelly fashion, the councillorsummed up the moral of the day with a bittersweet thought.