Some questioning Springfield fire chief’s decision to run over potentially rabid raccoon with his SUV

Springfield’s fire commissioner was “acting in his capacity as a municipal official” when he made the controversial decision to drive over a potentially rabid raccoon outside the fire department’s headquarters last week, according to the city’s mayor.

“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said in a statement defending Fire Commissioner Bernard J. Calvi’s actions.

“Time was of the essence, in order to protect our residents, especially our children and our pets,” Sarno said. “This was an unfortunate situation but one that had to have been taken in the name of public health and safety.”

According to MassLive, which first reported on the incident, Calvi drove a city vehicle over the animal on Feb. 21. 

Sarno explained that community members made multiple calls about an apparently rabid raccoon walking around in circles downtown. Calvi and police officers found the animal wandering around confused, agitated, and foaming at the mouth outside the fire department’s headquarters on Worthington Street, he said.

The mayor said officials notified Springfield’s Department of Health and Human Services — which oversees protocol for responding to rabid animals — and requested an animal trapper, but the trapper could not provide an estimated time of arrival. Further, Springfield’s local animal control center does not handle nuisance wildlife calls, according to Sarno.

So Calvi “took immediate action in the name of public health and safety to make sure that not only our brave and dedicated firefighters were safe but just as important, our residents and especially children and pets, would not be harmed — God forbid if this wild animal attacked a child,” the mayor said.

A Springfield Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson did not respond to a list of emailed questions about the incident and aftermath. 

Sarno said Calvi was “acting in his capacity as a municipal official” under Massachusetts law; the state’s Division of Fisheries and Wildlife allows any municipal staff member operating in an official capacity to kill raccoons and other wild animals that they believe to be rabid.

Springfield raccoon incident sparks backlash, community response

However, the incident generated controversy in Springfield and beyond, with some describing Calvi’s method as inhumane.

Hampden County Register of Deeds Cheryl Coakley Rivera shared a video on Facebook Monday of Calvi repeatedly driving over the animal, writing, “Why is our chief of the fire department, while using a city of Springfield vehicle running over and over and over a raccoon? … He needs to be fired.”

Similarly, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued a statement urging city officials to establish protocols to ensure that wildlife is treated humanely and euthanized “with care and consideration” if needed.

“This raccoon was made to suffer needlessly, crushed beneath a vehicle’s tires—something unconscionable in this day and age when veterinarians and humane societies could have put him down painlessly,” PETA said.

Yet Sarno’s office also shared two statements from a local medical doctor and a veterinarian supporting Calvi’s actions.

“The decision that was made, while not pretty, was sound, humane, and safe,” opined Sherry Himmelstein, who identified herself as a veterinarian of 48 years who has handled many rabies cases.

“The act of trapping such an animal or getting close enough to hook with a Rabies pole would endanger human lives and stress a frightened, suffering animal,” Himmelstein explained. “The next step, to inject this animal, would also be problematic, which is why these animals are usually shot from a distance.”

The way Springfield resident Dr. Karin Johnson sees it, Calvi’s actions protected the community’s safety and “helped to quickly relieve the immense suffering of a rabid animal.”

“As a neurologist, I know that rabid animals should be treated like a loaded gun,” Johnson said. “They are deadly and unpredictable especially when in a highly populated area like downtown Springfield.”

Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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