Mayor John Tory will officially announce Thursday the delivery of the city’s first new “raccoon-resistant” green bins in Scarborough. The tactic, an 18-month rollout across the city, is part of a larger campaign against what Tory calls “Raccoon Nation.”

Toronto’s war with the masked robbers has been going on for years. Here is an unofficial synopsis of the major battles, wins, and losses of the Great Raccoon War.

Sept. 17, 2002 — launch of Toronto’s green bin program

In 2002, Toronto launched what was supposed to be a new way to reduce the amount of organic waste in landfills. Little did the city know that the green bin program would turn out to be a huge boon for our enemies.

The bins became prime targets for raccoons, who found them easy to open and full of delicious food scraps.

July 23, 2010 — Raccoon Nation shuts down traffic

In a significant step-up to their usual tactics, the raccoons decided on an age-old method of warfare —disruption of key supply lines.

A raccoon shut down an intersection in Burlington, bringing traffic to a halt in all four directions. Though media reports at the time couldn’t verify the animal’s motives, a Humane Wildlife Control worker speculated the animal “wanted to create some traffic chaos.”

Aug. 29, 2014 — Drastic measures

With the war against the masked enemy ongoing, a Forum Research poll captured the terrified emotions of Torontonians. Over half of those surveyed said they supported euthanizing raccoons as a form of population control. About a quarter — 27 per cent — were against it, showing the enemy had friends on our side.

May 25, 2015 — It was us all along

A City of Toronto staff report found that the biggest enemy of all might not be Raccoon Nation after all, but humans.

In the report, city staff noted that overflowing garbage bins, carelessly stored green bins and food left outside for domestic animals such as cats and dogs was significantly helping the raccoons thrive.

March 3, 2015 — Finally, a new defence

A video released by the city offered new hope in the war. In it, the enemy attempted to get into new raccoon-resistant green bins throughout the night of March 3, but failed.

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It’s the equivalent of the Manhattan Project, except instead of nuclear fission, our weapon has a dial latch, and instead of a 20 kiloton TNT yield, ours is slightly heavier so raccoons can’t tip it over.

For now, we have the upper hand. But the war isn’t over. Not yet.