‘Skinned’: WDFW, police investigating potential animal cruelty in Queen Anne

SEATTLE — A woman in Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood is reeling after she found the remains of a baby raccoon in her yard on July 6.

Andrea Matzke said she found the baby raccoon had been killed, skinned and posed in her backyard near a tree where raccoons often gather.

“You don’t ever want to see that.,” Matzke said. “I saw its mother come and was frantically looking for the baby and that’s when I lost it and I mean she was just frantic right around the spot where they put it.”

Matzke has been taking photos and videos of raccoons that roam the neighborhood for years. She believes this heinous act was targeted.

“Someone snuck into my backyard, outside my bedroom window where I sleep with the window open and put a hideous threat, I don’t know but it was so disturbing,” she said.

Matzke said at first she thought the body was a stuffed dog toy but quickly realized it wasn’t.

“I looked on the bridge and I thought oh those crazy guys they just dragged monkey and I got closer and I saw it wasn’t monkey and my first reaction was no, no, no,” she said.

Seattle Police told KIRO 7 that they are investigating this as a case of animal cruelty and believe that whoever killed the baby raccoon used a knife.

The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is also investigating.

In a statement to KIRO 7, WDFW said, “On Saturday, July 6th, WDFW Police received a report of a deceased raccoon in the Queen Anne area of Seattle. The reporting party described the animal as being skinned and left in a public place. Officers contacted the reporting party and determined the current condition of the animal was not a result of natural causes by predation. This is an open investigation and therefore we cannot provide any further information at this time.”

Matzke said she wants whoever is responsible for this held accountable.

“It was horrifying, that was horrifying in addition to, this is 30 feet from my bedroom window which is open and to me that’s like serial killer stuff and I didn’t feel safe at all I was freaked out,” she said.

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