{"id":2187792,"date":"2025-07-30T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2187792"},"modified":"2025-07-26T09:08:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T08:08:21","slug":"report-california-man-allegedly-caught-on-camera-trying-to-burn-raccoon-with-blowtorch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/report-california-man-allegedly-caught-on-camera-trying-to-burn-raccoon-with-blowtorch\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: California Man Allegedly Caught On Camera Trying To Burn Raccoon With Blowtorch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A California man was allegedly caught on camera trying to burn a raccoon with a blowtorch, according to KTVU FOX 2.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c(The man) is holding what appears to be a blowtorch. He\u2019s chasing the raccoon, and it\u2019s trying to get away from him. It sort of turns around and looks, then turns again to get away, and the man\u2019s 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,\u201d Fenson said, describing the footage to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"VIDEO: Man seen lighting raccoon on fire with blowtorch in San Francisco\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PcJIg7TrSo0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Fenson said that based on the footage, it\u2019s likely that the unidentified individual has harmed animals in the past.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s 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\u2019s just violence,\u201d she told KTVU FOX 2.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The resident who captured the incident on their security camera shared the video to the San Francisco Reddit channel, calling the suspect a \u201csadist,\u201d the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The resident also said the suspect \u201ccornered a poor, defenseless raccoon,\u201d according to the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Fenson said raccoons are not typically physically aggressive but will raid garbage cans or commercial dumpsters for food, KTVU FOX 2 reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was one aggressive individual in that video, and that was the human,\u201d she told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p><i>This <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2025\/07\/23\/san-francisco-man-security-camera-blowtorch-raccoon-animal-cruelty-police\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> by Christine Sellers was first published by Daily Caller on 23 July 2025. Lead Image: Bruce Bennett\/Getty Images.<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>Wildlife in catastrophic decline<\/h2>\n<p>The 73% decline in vertebrate wildlife populations during the last 50 years (mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish), is primarily driven by human activities that threaten biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><em>Habitat Loss and Degradation<\/em> &#8211; human activities like deforestation, urbanization, and agriculture have led to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats, reducing the space and resources available for wildlife.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pollution<\/em> &#8211; air, water, and soil pollution from industrial activities, agriculture, and other sources can harm wildlife directly or indirectly by affecting their habitats and food sources.<\/p>\n<p><em>Climate Change<\/em> &#8211; changing weather patterns, rising temperatures, and sea levels are disrupting ecosystems and impacting species&#8217; ability to adapt and survive.<\/p>\n<p><em>Overexploitation of Resources<\/em> &#8211; unsustainable hunting, fishing, and logging practices can lead to the depletion of populations and the loss of biodiversity.<\/p>\n<p><em>Invasive Species<\/em> &#8211; the introduction of non-native species can disrupt ecosystems, compete with native species, and threaten their survival.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" id=\"donorbox-popup-button-installer\"> <\/script><a id=\"preview_inline_popup_button\" class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #0dc5dc; color: #ffffff; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; display: flex; gap: 8px; width: fit-content; font-size: 16px; border-radius: 5px; line-height: 24px; padding: 8px 24px;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?default_interval=m&amp;amount=50\" data-reminder-widget-enabled=\"true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 75w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 100w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 150w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 240w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 320w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 500w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 640w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 800w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1024w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1280w, https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg 1600w\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/images\/white_logo.svg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Help to protect wildlife by donating as little as $5. Our <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">conservation partners<\/a> spend at least 80 percent of the money raised on actual fieldwork rather than administration and fundraising.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2204723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.dailycaller.com\/image\/width=1280,height=549,fit=cover,format=webp,f=auto\/https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2204162690-scaled-e1753290924802.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,5],"tags":[12409],"class_list":["post-2187792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wildlife","tag-raccoons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2187792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2204723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2187792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2187792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2187792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}