Members of the Philadelphia City Council hold a hearing Monday on problems due to raccoons in the city.
Council member Kenyatta Johnson says constituents in Center City and west and southwest Philadelphia complain about raccoons, but there isn't a city agency that directly addresses the problem.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the resolution authorizing the hearing says the health department's vector control program specializes in rats. [[422219103, C]]
The animal care and control team will respond to complaints of raccoons in living quarters or sick animals, but they usually stay in building crawl spaces outside of the team's purview.
And the city licenses and inspections department seals vacant buildings, in part to keep animals out, but usually concentrates on ground floors, not upper windows that may not be properly secured.
