So, with all this bad weather, a raccoon has taken up residence on a bench at the Port Coquitlam Transit Centre! The staff has taken to calling him Poco Pete. (You may have seen Pete’s story in the Province too the other day.)

Apparently Pete showed up on Tuesday morning seeking refuge and spent all day on the transit centre’s bench. His den has likely been flooded or frozen over.

The staff put a container with bleach underneath the bench to see if the smell would drive him away, but Pete has just simply moved further down the bench. Options to send him on his way are tricky — SPCA and Wildlife Rescue say Pete is not an injured or sick animal, so unless he is inside someone’s home, there is nothing they can do. The other option is to call a pest control company but it has been stated that that can be traumatizing for the animal. So for now, while the bad weather persists, he’s sleeping on our bench.

By the way, the centre has taken precautions to keep Pete away from staff. A barrier has been put up to prevent him from getting close to the staff who might be using a nearby swipe card reader. For the most part, however, Pete apparently just sleeps all day, with a few breaks in between to groom himself.

Pete has in fact always lived in the vicinity of Port Coquitlam Transit Centre area, as he’s been spotted for years living off the centre’s dumpsters and garbage cans. Staff originally nicknamed him PT Raccoon for Poco Transit Raccoon—over time, the name become shortened to just Poco Pete. Hopefully once the bad weather recedes, he’ll be able to go back home!