#DEADRACCOONTO
This post is a tribute to Conrad, the brave and silent hero we all never knew that we needed.
If you don’t know, Conrad (as affectionately named by citizens of Toronto) was literally a dead raccoon, found on the downtown streets of Canada’s largest city, whose presence, in some weird and hilarious turn of events, began a social media firestorm.
This July marks the year anniversary of #DeadRaccoonTO and to honor Conrad, and keep his legacy alive, we’ll do a quick highlight of his rise to social media stardom.
9am:
A man named Jason tweets to Toronto Animal Control that there is a dead raccoon on the sidewalk and Animal Control responded, also via tweet (whoa, 21st century!):
“Thank you for letting us know. This was reported a short while ago and Animal Services has been notified.”
So, Conrad was resigned to lay there, man-bits exposed, until his imminent removal from the sidewalk until….
12pm:
In a strange turn of events, someone left a note by the raccoon’s lifeless carcass:
It reads: “Rest dear Raccoon. Help is on the way from the city.”
2PM:
Conrad’s body still lay strewn on the sidewalk and more condolences began to appear. Including a rose and sympathy card, with attached Sharpie for people to write messages.
Which, naturally, they did…
Some Time Later:
In the most bizarre and entertaining chapter of this narrative: SOMEONE PRINTED A REGAL PORTRAIT OF A RACCOON, FRAMED IT, AND PUT IT BESIDE CONRAD.
Be still my beating heart. This is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Not only did this person see the raccoon, THEY TOOK THE TIME TO GO AND PRINT A PHOTO (assuming that they just didn’t have one on hand), AND FRAMED IT.
I mean, the citizens of Toronto are truly winning at everything.
Also, As all of this is occurring….:
As all of this is occurring, Conrad and the hashtag #DeadRaccoonTO are garnering a good amount of attention on social media.
The sender of the original tweet, Jason, had come back by and noticed that the raccoon had not been removed and sent an additional tweet:
“Toronto It’s now after 3 pm and I guess Animal Services hasn’t been by, because someone’s having some fun now”
This caught the attention of City Council Member, Norm Kelly, who tweeted:
“Please have staff pick up this raccoon at 819 Yonge St.”
And when Animal Control STILL hadn’t picked up the body, fired off this sassy tweet:
“Residents are being asked to keep their green bins open tonight in honour of #DeadRaccoonTO.”
The hashtag exploded with responses:
“I don’t really understand how the magic that is #DeadRaccoonTO is happening, but it is fantastic that our city can come together for this.”— @sachasayan
“sleep well my sweet prince, people loved you and remember you #deadraccoonto”-@heyhahn
“Someone has added a donation box beside the dead raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO”— @KrisReports
11PM
AND FINALLY, after nearly fourteen hours of lying strewn on the sidewalk, Animal Control arrived to remove Conrad…
But not before everyone had a chance to say goodbye in a way befitting of the glue that pulled Toronto together…
A candlelight vigil.