Really Big Raccoon Found Dead on Broadway

Salisbury Township Police Officer Bryan Losagio is no stranger to dealing with animals in distress in his line of work. He's , maybe helped a kitten or two down a tree and been chased by a wild sheep down Emmaus Avenue (ask him about that one). But he was unprepared for what he saw last week in the 1600 block of Broadway.

"Upon arrival I observed what turned out to be the largest raccoon I ever saw," he wrote in a departure from his normally staid entries in the police log.

Losagio estimates the raccoon measured about three feet long and weighed at least 45 pounds.

"It was the size of a medium dog!" he recounted later with the same excitement. "The guy who hit it probably has damage to his car. It was that big."

Losagio had responded to a resident's call about a dead animal, or what appeared to be dead, lying at the entrance to his driveway. The man didn't want his son to see it later that afternoon when the school bus dropped him off in front of their house. Could the officer please remove it?

After Losagio determined the raccoon was dead, he tried scooping it up with cardboard but the animal was too large and heavy and wouldn't fit in a small trash bag.

With a large piece of wood, he scooped the raccoon into in a plastic sheet normally used to warm shock victims.

"If this thing woke up, I wouldn't know what to do," Losagio said.

Maybe the same thing he did when he was head-butted by the enraged sheep who chased him down Emmaus Avenue.