NJ man caged, stabbed & poured bleach on raccoons, police say

NEW MILFORD — A Bergen County man faces animal cruelty charges after police say he trapped two raccoons before stabbing them and pouring bleach on the animals.

Patrick Biondo, 54, of New Milford, was arrested Tuesday after police received a call about the incident.

Officers responded to the borough residence and Biondo told police he was trying to exterminate the raccoons due to them being a constant nuisance on his deck.

Tyco animal control services responded and took both raccoons to Franklin Lakes Animal Hospital.

Because of the severity of their injuries, both animals were euthanized, according to an update on Tyco's Facebook page.

Biondo was taken into custody and charged with animal cruelty. He was released on a summons pending a court date Aug. 14, as reported by the North Jersey Record.

The same report said Biondo admitted in an interview that he had captured three other raccoons before and left them to starve to death due to an ongoing problem with raccoon feces on his deck over the past year. He also said he was told it was illegal to relocate the animals.

According to the state Division of Fish and Wildlife's wildlife relocation policy, "relocation of nuisance wildlife must be evaluated on a case by case basis."

There's extensive guidelines for trying to first change what might be attracting nuisance wildlife, which includes raccoon, squirrel, opossum, skunk, weasel, coyote, fox and woodchuck, before taking further action. 

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