COURTESY KENNETH HARDIN

Salisbury city officials have been slow to remove wild animals like this trapped groundhog that have taken residence in Black neighborhoods, columnist Kenneth Hardin writes.

I’ve learned more about raccoons and groundhogs in the last two weeks than I’ve ever cared to really know.

Why, might you ask? Well, residents in Salisbury’s Black community have had to endure these beasts terrorizing them and damaging their property for over five years.  Calls to the mostly white city leadership have ended with frightened and concerned residents being told, “There’s no city animal control department, there’s no money in the budget to address the issue, and they’re everywhere in the city, so there’s nothing we can do.”  

I have a nonprofit advocacy organization, The High Road Inc., that fights for the undervalued, underrepresented and those in the margins who are routinely ignored like in this situation.

I received a call two weeks ago about these wild animals causing extensive property damage and creating fear throughout the Black community. Sadly, this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this issue.

Five years ago this month, as a sitting council member, I worked with the county’s animal control department to capture large groundhogs and raccoons terrorizing residents. Some of the groundhogs were over 30 pounds, and when caught and caged, reacted like a crazed beast in a movie attempting to get free. The local newspaper as well as several Charlotte TV news stations came to the community and did stories. I thought the issue had been neutralized and somewhat resolved until I got the call recently.

Several questions and answers ran through my mind. What has the leadership, both Black and white, been doing in the five years since I stepped away?  Apparently nothing. Why are city leaders not more concerned about the safety of residents in the Black community? Because it’s not in the white country club community.

Do they not see or care about the potential harm and disease these animals can spread?  See the previous answer.

A concern was even reported at the local Head Start school that animals had taken up residence near the playground where children play. I recall reaching out to the mayor five years ago, who is still in office today, and can hear the ridiculous and insensitive comment she made about the problem. 

Without a morsel of concern, she cluelessly said when she’s out walking in her privileged and well-kept community, she and her husband “frequently encounter bunnies, so the people over there are just going to have to get used to living with wildlife like we have.”

I again called the same county commissioner who responded so quickly five years prior, and within hours, he had arranged for two animal control officers to respond.  They came in large pickup trucks with a permit from the N.C. Wildlife Commission to trap 15 of the wild animals.  

Traps were placed behind homes adjacent to the city-owned water overflow basin and at the Head Start school.  Within 24 hours, I received an email that two had already been caught.

If residents are paying city taxes, they deserve a better level of service from their political representatives. The city can find money to build a new multimillion dollar park two miles away, but none for these people to enjoy their community peacefully and safely.  

They don’t care about the Black community, but I bet they’ll all be at the next MLK Day event for photo ops and quoting Dr. King.

Kenneth L. Hardin of is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.  His nonprofit can be found at https://hardingroupllc.com.

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