the Obesity Epidemic equals Fat Raccoons

If you didn't know there was competition to be the world's fattest country, you might want to check out today's article in the New York Daily News. (Mexico has won the title most recently) But people aren't the only people to suffer, raccoons are also getter fatter.  

 

Urban raccoon populations are far more likely than their rural counterparts to suffer from high blood pressure("Raccoon Nation", The Nature of Things, 2011).

You've seen them, sunning themselves on garage roofs and backyard fences in the middle of the day. They're fat, and they're lazy. Are raccoons playing too many video games? Are they spending time inside reading books? (heaven forbid)

No, as we all know, the obesity crisis is a failure of adequate nutritional information. Are raccoons provided with easy to read calorie and sodium counts on food they nibble on from compost bins? No, no they are not. If they were, we would see fewer fat raccoons lumbering through town on garbage night.

photo by afternoon_sunlight, some rights reserved.