Police defended their wrangling of an Upper East Side raccoon, saying yesterday they did what had to be done when they shot the masked mammal after finding it up a tree. Although animal-control officials said they probably would have left the animal alone, cops were so afraid that it might be rabid that they blasted it with darts. "You had a raccoon in the daytime. It may have been rabid," said NYPD spokesman Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. "It was out in the daytime. That makes it suspicious." Emergency Service cops shot it with two tranquilizer darts at 8:30 a.m. Thursday on East 88th Street. The animal was eventually euthanized by Animal Care and Control because the dart damage was irreparable. "It was the decision of the center for Animal Care and Control to put it down," Browne said. Animal Control spokesman Richard Gentles said his agency was never notified by police of the raccoon situation.

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