The Brooklyn Paper

Gentile is the New Critter Ridder
By Gersh Kuntzman
The Brooklyn Paper


Happy Valentine’s Day from Council member Vince Gentile!
Now, go out and scare some raccoons.

Gentile, a Bay Ridge Democrat, remained at the forefront of the fight against Brooklyn’s increasing raccoon presence by announcing on Wednesday that his office would begin distributing “Critter Ridder,” a humane raccoon repellent, “to all residents who are experiencing unwanted visits from raccoons.”

Wednesday was Valentine’s Day, but Gentile has no love for the masked bandits.

“Raccoons have been a persistent problem in our neighborhoods,” said Gentile, who paid for the Critter Ridder himself and will dole it out as long as his supply lasts.

He championed the spray, which is made by the Lititz, Pennsylvania-based Havahart Company, as “a humane way to keep raccoons from inhabiting areas that would be dangerous to both the raccoons and humans.”

As reported in The Brooklyn Paper, the garbage eaters have been popping up in a broad belt stretching from Cobble Hill to Prospect Park and down to Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights.

The cuddly, but hostile, critters are considered wildlife and cannot just be killed (like rats and mice) unless they are obviously rabid (in such cases, they’ll be walking around like drunks, experts said). Not that Gentile is calling for the death penalty.

“We really don’t want to look like raccoon hunters,” a Gentile aide said. “This is about what Havahart calls ‘caring control.’”

Gentile is urging his constituents to use the Critter Ridder spray around garbage cans and birdfeeders.