Arizona man arrested after rescuing and adopting drowning raccoon

Arizona man arrested after rescuing and adopting drowning raccoon

news.yahoo.com

When 57-year-old Stan Morris saw a raccoon drowning in the Colorado River, he decided to put his own health at risk by saving the struggling animal. Seven months later, the good-hearted deed landed Morris in jail.

Before his arrest, Morris and the raccoon he affectionately named "Sonny," had developed quite a bond, according to the Associated Press. Morris told police he first looked online to see if it was against the law to keep a raccoon as a pet. When he didn't find any information telling him otherwise, he decided to adopt Sonny.

Technically, it is legal to keep a raccoon as a pe

(visit the link for the full news article)

So what now? Does the guy get fined and the raccoon gets put to sleep? A sad ending to an otherwise compassionate story. He probably saved an orphan raccoon and is (was) giving him a safe life — probably not breeding, so give it a rest and go find the bad guys.
He did break the law, but I don't think an arrest was necessary. In my opinion, this should have been handled with a citation.



news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

How petty can they get?
Do good - get screwed.
Welcome to AmeriKa!

I love racoons !

Originally posted by joyride0187

Arizona man arrested after rescuing and adopting drowning raccoon

news.yahoo.com

When 57-year-old Stan Morris saw a raccoon drowning in the Colorado River, he decided to put his own health at risk by saving the struggling animal. Seven months later, the good-hearted deed landed Morris in jail.

Before his arrest, Morris and the raccoon he affectionately named "Sonny," had developed quite a bond, according to the Associated Press. Morris told police he first looked online to see if it was against the law to keep a raccoon as a pet. When he didn't find any information telling him otherwise, he decided to adopt Sonny.

Technically, it is legal to keep a raccoon as a pe

(visit the link for the full news article)

I read the article. This kind of stupid pettiness just torques my jaw. They should never have taken take the raccoon away from him. They should have given him a warning that he needs an exotic pet license.
I guess their police have nothing better to do.

I had a pet raccoon as a kid it was great, and quite the experience. We worked on letting her go as she grew older though, she hung out near the house for many months and as the weeks passed we seen less and less of her as she moved more into the wild.

She used to sit on the back of the couch, put one paw on each shoulder and rest her head on top of my head. She was really an amazing and intelligent animal.


We ended up with her in the way of a rescue. A friend of the family that was a logger cut down the tree that her mother had created a den in. She was too small to survive on her own so we adopted her. I used to catch minnows out of our pond and place them in the bathtub with a few inches of water for her to eat.

As for the guy in the OP if they wanted to do anything they should have fined the guy and worked with him on moving the animal to the wild. There is no need to arrest the guy and put the animal down.

Raist

Originally posted by joyride0187

Arizona man arrested after rescuing and adopting drowning raccoon

It would be nice if ATS readers could learn to post the actual source of the news story.

The "source" here is a blog, but they cite...
azfamily who in turn are also NOT the source of the story, but they cite...
mohavedailynews where you can finally read the following...

Morris was also arrested for an outstanding misdemeanor warrant for failure to appear.

So, the other news sources simply LIED to you in order to create outrage.
He wasnt arrested for the raccoon thing at all.
And you fell for it by not checking your sources.

This is Insanity!!!! A person willing to risk his own life to save that of a fellow animal should have gotten a metal! Our Judicial system is completely upside down, along with the gestapo police force that has and is spreading across the country, I'm not saying all peace officers are mindless Gestapos, there are some good ones left, but becoming fewer and farther between. It's headlines like this that make me shake my head and wonder why? I'm afraid its only down hill faster as things spiral out of control.

I hope this is thrown out and those who imprisoned him are charged for false imprisonment, but we know that will never happen. More money made in a Correction business, Like Ive heard from many in the field, its no longer to correct people, its a huge money scandal.

Oh well that makes quite a difference when we hear the rest of the story, wanted for prior violations.

This is Paul Harvey, and that's the rest of the story!

reply to post by alfa1


Yahoo news should be banned from here if you ask me.... It is nothing more than bloggers! Half the time I check out a yahoo news article, I find in the comment section that most of the "article" is innacurate.

Going to leave my original comment up, but have to add this. I misread the original article, I thought the gist of it was that he was looked into for the raccoon, then arrested when found he had a warrant. I am no friend to the current "justice system" we have going, anyone that has seen a bunch of my posts know this. Too many "laws" and regulations, made by lawyers, to benefit lawyers. More on topic, why would you surveil, then arrest someone for keeping the wrong pet? What ever happened to civility? Did the "authority" approach him, have a conversation, let him know that it was against the "law"? That would be the proper approach if you ask me, then give the guy some time to comply. But that don't bring in revenue does it?

2nd story of the day where I heard a police force in a state has FAILED. Live and let live.

It goes to show you what constitutes good police work.

Maybe they'll get promoted for intervening.

( Why do I have these mental pictures of a whole clan of raccoons attacking that local police station ? )
( All of them packing tasers, made as hell, . . not going to take it anymore ! )
( Tasering the hell out of each and every officer ! )
( Until they piss themselves ! )

reply to post by joyride0187

I'm sorry but is this for real?Jesus,what the hell is your country becoming? well much applause to the gent who saved this poor little creatures life,he's worth dozens of the type of P***k who could legislate against such a noble deed!

Sorry just read a previous posters source for this item and it appears his arrest was nothing to do with the racoon at all,still much kudos for helping the racoon anyway.

1. The guy was arrested for outstanding warrants not related to the Raccoon.
2. When he "saved" the raccoon, he should have let it go back into the wild where it belongs.
3. Raccoons can swim, no swimming lessons needed; so he didn't really save it.

UPDATE: I spoke with Tom Cadden, a public information officer with the Arizona Game and Fish Department today, who provided some helpful information on this story. First, Cadden explained that Stan Morris was not in fact arrested for keeping a wild raccoon. Turns out, he was arrested for an outstanding, unrelated misdemeanor that turned up in police records after authorities were alerted to the raccoon situation.

Cadden also asked that we address reader concerns about the fate of Sonny the raccoon. "We'll be putting out feelers to the community," for someone who can adopt Sonny, Cadden tells Yahoo! News, saying that a zoo, animal rehabilitation center or an educational institution are the most likely destinations. Sonny would only be put to sleep if tests showed he had an infectious disease. Cadden's other concern was that readers might be misinterpreting Morris' actions. "After he rescued the raccoon, the best thing he could have done for it would have been to release it, or to contact the authorities," Cadden said. "By taking it home for several months the animal was 'imprinted.' He removed its chance to live its life in the wild," Cadden said. "The best thing people can do for wildlife is to keep them wild."

Original story begins below.

**********

When 57-year-old Stan Morris saw a raccoon.....

That was the first thing on the page. Perhaps it was updated after the OP posted.

MISLEADING HEADLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The article clearly states "Turns out, he was arrested for an outstanding, unrelated misdemeanor that turned up in police records after authorities were alerted to the raccoon situation."

He was arrested for something entirely different.

It did happen after he adopted the racoon, but the implication of the headline is that he was arrested because he adopted the raccoon.

While the headline is technically correct, i.e. he was arrested after he adopted the raccoon, he was arrested for something unrelated.

reply to post by CaticusMaximus


It is more than possible, but highly likely. Yahoo does this all the time. I tend to treat yahoo news, the same as I would treat news on comedy central. It's just entertainment and ratings. For yahoo, I suppose it is just views.

reply to post by joyride0187


oh gee, isn't usa the best....?
imagine if the guy would have saved a human life....hang him i say, and may he rot in hell for his deeds.
thinking of it, it may also be a conspiracy that the beast knew all about. Those darn illuminati are surely up to no good.
he sure got a chance at living the american dream.
I wonder what's next..

reply to post by Muttley2012

Thank you muttley, for striking the nail on the head.

The guys story stinks from the start!

reply to post by joyride0187


This is why I never vote for Liberals in local elections.. they make the dumbest laws, have this perverse love affair with paper work (exotic pet permit for a freaking raccoon??? seriously?)

I've also never met a "wild" raccoon. I've met mean ones.. a few I've had to shoot at.. but growing up on a Farm especially they were always around, very relaxed around people.. essentially pets in all but name. More like squatters who refused to leave. We had "wild" cats that were more feral than racoons.

But to be tossed in jail for having a pet?

Who ever arrested him needs to do some soul searching..