White House menace caught
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/02/06/art.racoon.gi.jpg caption=" One large raccoon and several smaller ones had invaded the White House grounds. "](CNN) - After weeks on the run, officials have nabbed a fugitive who infiltrated White House grounds: on Wednesday, they announced the capture of one of the raccoons raising mayhem around the executive mansion over the last month.
White House spokesman Bill Burton confirms the National Park Service has captured at least one of the particularly ambitious mammals and released it safely in an "undisclosed location."
The pesky intruders were first spotted roaming the premises early this month, and have since proved to be a repeated nuisance for National Park Service officials charged with maintaining the White House grounds.
The matter even made its way to one of the White House daily briefings with reporters, when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs acknowledged the difficulty officials were having in catching the animals.
Several traps were set up around the White House lawn in early February after it was determined that one large raccoon and several smaller ones were the chief mischief doers.
The traps had included peanut butter and apples as bait, but it was ultimately salmon that did the trick, Burton said.
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I'll bet they are in the stimilus plan
So some critters found their way on to the White House grounds? Big deal. What cracks me up is that the National Park Service people who maintain those grounds obviously didn't know what to do about it. Surely, having taken a month to catch them and transport them to "the backcountry" is not going to look good on their resumés...
It took them 1 month to catch a raccoon, things are looking good for Bin Laden...
Glad to hear they finally nabbed John McCoon. He has been acting up lately.
Floyd in New York: Racoons are evil? I thought they were simply nocturnal animals that scrounge for food ... gee, I need to get caught up on my diabolical stuff ...
Peanut butter? Oh my! Where is the SPCA when you need them?
Well, OK, one can assume that peanut butter, like all food and drink in the WH, is tested before consumption, even if only by one of these cuties...
Chaney did this on "On A Drive-By"!
Hurry, somebody call Sarah Palin......she can blast the critters from her government helicopter.
This is just a Republican in a raccoon suit, trying the "cute" approach.
Lord knows they've tried everything else.
Well – at least the raccoons had good taste!
Patsy
it was sent by mccain and republican party to destroy the white house because thats the last thing standing in America now
Maybe they heard about the peanut product recall ;0)
No wonder America is in major decline. People who claim to be patriots post racial hatred on blogs towards their President. Corruption is revealed daily in business and government. The Gov of Louisianna thinks monitoring active volcanos is wastful spending which must mean tracking hurricanes is too. People claiming to be Christians cringe at the thought of helping their neighbors though the stimulus. A sad state of affairs for sure.
They're just rodents - use poison for those rats, not traps - it's not an endangered species.
Ann, its not hard to ignore some of people's posts.
When are they going to set traps and catch BUSH...He was the biggest RAT ever to invade the White House.
They should have used the booze from one of BUSH's, half empty Jim Beam, bottles for bait..They are scattered all over the White House, and the outside grounds..The drunk hid them every where..
Calling any of God's creatures "menaces" is not right. These are raccoons who have a right to be humanely caught and placed somewhere else, if need be. Some humans are more of a"menace" than some innocent creature just trying to live it's life. Aside from any current or potential environmental issues, the attitude in this country about mammals and birds is disgusting. We carelessly tear down trees in the springtime when baby birds are in their nests, and casually destroy homes of other animals, as well. There are even thousands of new homes sitting empty from greedy builders who unnecessarily used up land.
They used peanut butter – and PETA didn't protest?
"Undisclosed location"? You mean they released in Darth Cheney's house? Poor thing is probably being waterboarded as we speak.
Way to keep the focus off of the real issues!
I wonder how much of the porkulus package went to catching them. A couple billion?
The animals are really spies for McCain, Palin and Bobby Jindal...and the raccoons are secretly named Rush, Bill and Sean.
Oh this is just too funny.
They had peanut butter as the bait!!!
They must have been trying to kill those poor racoons