Local produce thieves were raccoons

By Staff
Rebecca James, Franklin County Times
RUSSELLVILLE- Little did Dorothy Orrick expect to find out that the thieves that had been stealing her produce weren't really thieves at all, just hungry raccoons.
The raccoons have been ravaging through Orrick's roadside produce stand for the past three weeks.
"We think that they may be coming out because of the new car wash they are building next door to us," Orrick said. "The construction may be driving them out."
The raccoons seem to be in favor of the sweet corn and grapes that Orrick sells at her stand.
"They've ate two bushels of corn in one night," Orrick said. "We've caught two raccoons a night for the last couple of nights. We've had to start putting the corn and the grapes in the refrigerator every night."
Orrick contacted animal control officers who recommended that she leave out poison for the raccoons.
"I didn't want to kill them," Orrick said, "We decided to bait them with corn instead."
Orrick has caught four of the raccoons so far.
"We've been leaving out live traps baited with sweet corn for them," Orrick said. "One of the raccoons we caught was so big it looked like a baby bear."
Dorothy's Produce has three locations in the Franklin County area, one in Russellville, one in Phil Campbell, and one in Littleville.