Around 8:45 a.m. on July 9, 2015, the body of a raccoon was found on the sidewalk near here. Over the next 14 hours, passersby built a makeshift memorial for the critter consisting of candles, flowers, photographs, cards, cigarettes, and a donation box.

Nicknamed Conrad, the raccoon became a social media sensation. As the story spread, the memorial grew. Eventually, Toronto Animal Services removed Conrad around 11 p.m. leaving the collection of offerings behind.

Called esibanag in Anishinaabemowin, the language spoken by the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, raccoons (Procyon lotor) are native to North America. The word raccoon can be traced to the British colonisation of Virginia and derives from words in the Algonquian language of the Powhatan Confederacy.

Over time, raccoons have adapted extremely well to city life, finding ways to thrive despite attempts to keep them away. Raccoons are typically active at night. In cities, they prefer to live in plentiful attics, sheds, and other human-made structures instead of their natural homes in hollow tree trunks. Their natural diet of grubs, insects, eggs, meat, fruits, and nuts has also expanded to include an abundant new resource – discarded human food.

Estimates suggest there may be more than 50,000 raccoons living in Toronto. Their resourcefulness, resilience, and cheeky personalities have contributed to their reputation as the unofficial mascots of Toronto.