Toronto residents build memorial around dead raccoon

TORONTO, July 10 (UPI) -- A dead raccoon that waited for hours at the side of a Toronto street became a Twitter star when local residents turned his resting place into a memorial.

Jason Wagar tweeted about 9 a.m. Thursday to the city's @311Toronto account, which allows residents to use the microblogging site to contact city services, and the account responded saying animal services had been notified.

A second tweet from Wagar just after 3 p.m. said the raccoon still had not been picked up by animal services, and someone was "having some fun" with the raccoon by placing a rose on the animal's body and accompanying it with a sympathy card and a framed photo of a raccoon in a mock memorial.

Subsequent tweets from other residents revealed the memorial had expanded to include candles, more cards, more flowers and other tributes.

Twitter users nicknamed the fallen raccoon "Conrad."

Conrad was finally picked up by an animal services worker just after 11 p.m.

@311Toronto It's now after 3 pm and I guess Animal Services hasn't been by, because someone's having some fun now: pic.twitter.com/ff0ybbm5cX

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— Jason Wagar (@jasonwagar) July 9, 2015

Omg they brought out candles #DeadRaccoonTO pic.twitter.com/InvpKFnlOZ

— Anastacia (@Xantheexo) July 10, 2015

The city of Toronto worker is now preparing to remove the raccoon. #DeadRaccoonTO pic.twitter.com/DASkviOkiE

— Kris Pangilinan (@KrisReports) July 10, 2015