He Saved a Raccoon, and Now They Are Both Running

There is a particular kind of attachment that forms when one creature saves another, and the saving goes both ways. In Montreal, a man named Louka Berman found an orphaned baby raccoon in May—injured, hiding in the corner of a garage, crying for a mother who would not return. He quit his job, brought the animal home, and nursed him back to health. He named him Pepper. What began as a rescue became something neither of them could easily undo.

By September, Pepper was a viral sensation. A video of Berman riding his bike with the raccoon perched on his shoulder circulated widely, and Montreal knew him as the "raccoon guy" . But the provincial government saw something else: a wild animal kept without a permit, in violation of regulations that prohibit keeping raccoons as pets even with authorization. Quebec is currently managing an outbreak of raccoon rabies, and the wildlife authority received a report about the bicycling pair .

The first encounter came in early October. Three enforcement officers arrived at Berman's Plateau apartment with a warrant to seize Pepper. Berman let them in, then grabbed the raccoon and ran. He hid Pepper in a park and did not return until later. An officer told him he would be fined for obstruction . Weeks later, on October 22, Berman saw officers pulling up outside his building and fled again—this time with Pepper, assuming the worst. "They want to kill my baby," he said. "Why wouldn't I be paranoid?" .

Since then, Berman has lived nomadically, sleeping in his car or at friends' homes. He leaves Pepper outside, and the raccoon either stays nearby or finds his way back. "It's been peaceful," Berman said, "but we're not out of the woods yet" . On Monday, he took Pepper to a refuge north of Montreal to receive a rabies vaccination, a move he described as a way to silence critics who questioned the animal's health .

The legal picture is not ambiguous. Daniel Labonté, a spokesperson for the provincial environment ministry, told The Canadian Press that keeping a raccoon requires a permit issued only to professional facilities like zoos, and that even with a permit, a raccoon cannot be kept as a pet. A first offence carries a fine of $1,000 to $5,000 . The Montreal SPCA said it does not condone domesticating wild animals, noting that they belong in their natural habitat .

What complicates the story is the bond itself. Berman tried to release Pepper. He brought him to parks, left him for hours, hoped the raccoon would adjust to the wild. Pepper kept coming back. "Wherever I drop him, he just comes back to me," Berman said . The ministry says it makes every effort to relocate seized animals to compliant facilities or return them to the wild, and that euthanasia is a last resort . Berman is not reassured.

The standoff continues. Berman has raised thousands of dollars online, some through a cryptocurrency launched by a supporter, and hopes to build a wildlife sanctuary . The ministry has not commented further on the case. For now, a man and a raccoon remain in motion, bound by something the regulations do not account for.

The images accompanying this article are AI-generated and are not photographs of the individuals or events described.

Sources: The Canadian Press, CTV News, Montreal Gazette, Niagara Falls Review, L'actualité