Memorial for a dead coon

Walt has written before about those makeshift memorials that spring up within seconds of someone's being hit by a car, killed by a cop, shot by a gangbanger, or meeting any other sort of untimely demise. See "Looks like 'a pile of trash' to me too".

You know the kind of thing I mean: a big pile of wilting flowers, cutesy teddy bears and care bears, non-biodegradable balloons, crosses and candles too crude to be displayed in any church. Somehow, adding to the pile seems to make sad lonely people with no relationship to the dear departed feel that they have Done Something Good -- warned against the evils of drunk driving, demonstrated against racism, whatever.

To me, these memorials are just about the basest form of maudlin sentiment, contributing to the betterment of no-one except florists and owners of gift shops. And they do become piles of trash which eventually the municipality has to clean up.

Some residents of Toronto evidently share Walt's sense of the ridiculous, for yesterday some anonymous residents of a downtown neighbourhood set up a memorial for "Conrad", who died alone on a city sidewalk. And they did it while the corpse was still there! Here's a picture.

Yes, Conrad is (or was) a raccoon, one of Toronto's large and growing "Raccoon Nation". How he met his fate is unclear, but it took the city about 14 hours to remove the carcass. [Perhaps it was left there pour encourager les autres. Ed.] Meanwhile, the memorial grew up around it, with a nice framed picture being added, and a candle, as the sun sank behind the golden tower of the Royal Bank building. Shortly after 11 p.m. a city works truck swept up the memorial, and Conrad along with it.

Question from Ed.: Did Conrad have a last name? Not "Black", surely?