A California man was allegedly caught on camera trying to burn a raccoon with a blowtorch, according to KTVU FOX 2.
San Francisco Animal Care and Control Captain Rebecca Fenson told KTVU FOX 2 on Tuesday that her department had received two videos of the alleged incident. In one of the videos, the animal appeared to have already been burned. The videos were sent to the department by a San Francisco resident whose home security camera caught footage of the man allegedly harming the animal.
“(The man) is holding what appears to be a blowtorch. He’s chasing the raccoon, and it’s trying to get away from him. It sort of turns around and looks, then turns again to get away, and the man’s arm is outstretched with this blowtorch. The raccoon does appear to already have a burn scar on his back at that time. And then the unidentified person runs away,” Fenson said, describing the footage to the outlet.
Fenson said that based on the footage, it’s likely that the unidentified individual has harmed animals in the past.
“It’s probable or likely that this person has harmed animals, especially wildlife, before this. It does appear that he had already burned the raccoon and was still pursuing it, which shows a mentality of someone who is perhaps familiar with cruelty to animals. It should be noted that people who hurt animals are often capable of hurting humans. It’s just violence,” she told KTVU FOX 2.
The incident happened in the Mission Terrace neighborhood, according to ABC7 News. While the raccoon was able to escape, animal control officers have not been able to locate it. Authorities are also looking for the suspect who allegedly abused the animal, ABC7 News reported.
The resident who captured the incident on their security camera shared the video to the San Francisco Reddit channel, calling the suspect a “sadist,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The resident also said the suspect “cornered a poor, defenseless raccoon,” according to the outlet.
Fenson said raccoons are not typically physically aggressive but will raid garbage cans or commercial dumpsters for food, KTVU FOX 2 reported.
“There was one aggressive individual in that video, and that was the human,” she told the outlet.
This article by Christine Sellers was first published by Daily Caller on 23 July 2025. Lead Image: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images.
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