Dead Toronto raccoon whose sidewalk memorial went viral in 2015 immortalized with heritage plaque
TORONTO — Ten years ago, a dead raccoon on a downtown Toronto street sparked an impromptu sidewalk shrine as passersby laid flowers, candles and cigarettes around the critter.
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Now, Conrad the raccoon has been immortalized in the city's history with a heritage plaque at the spot where it all happened.
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Conrad went viral in 2015 after his remains laid on the sidewalk at the corner of Yonge and Church streets for nearly 14 hours following a social media post reporting the dead animal to the city.
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Meg Sutton, plaques co-ordinator with Heritage Toronto, says the 10th anniversary of Conrad's death is the perfect occasion to revive the raccoon's story, which she says united Canadians across the country.
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The plaque includes photos of the posts that launched the DeadRaccoonTO hashtag, imprints of raccoon paws and a QR code that leads to a website where people can post their own raccoon stories.
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As the first-ever animal plaque in the city, Sutton says it also serves to highlight the natural history of raccoons in urban spaces.
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#NeverForget #DeadRaccoonTO pic.twitter.com/BVN9Q0ALTy
— mound (@PITmounD) June 17, 2016
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In the early 1900s, industrialization and deforestation caused such a threat to the raccoon population that people worried the creatures would go extinct, she said.
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'Now, raccoons have become so adaptable and resilient that they've made their homes in attics and sheds, they've found new diet sources and human-discarded food, and they've just become these cheeky personalities that run amok,' Sutton said Tuesday in an interview.
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After a month, a permanent version of the plaque will be installed to replace the QR code with life-size raccoon prints since the QR code requires maintenance and upkeep, Sutton said.
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