SPENCER – Police and the animal control officer are investigating the illegal trapping of a raccoon on Church Street last weekend.

“Unfortunately, it was too severely injured and had to be euthanized,” Sgt. Norman Hodgerney Jr. said Friday.

Hodgerney said a call came in to police just before 1:30 p.m. Aug. 1. The caller said an ailing raccoon, with a chain around its leg, was in the area of 28-30 Church St.

The animal control officer discovered a raccoon with its paw in a leg trap. The officer freed the animal and took it to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton. It was euthanized, the sergeant said.

A detective is speaking to potential witnesses who live in the area, according to Hodgerney.

“We’re trying to figure out who’s responsible for…