After reading this blog title, you may be thinking, “What is this guy talking about?!” I’ll get to the point, I promise, dear reader. Sometimes you hear a story, and things just connect in your brain, even when those things are as seemingly disparate as invasive species, anime, and insurance. Just recently, I was listening to an episode of one of my favorite podcasts, 99% Invisible. The topic of the episode brought me on a wild thought-ride that brought together their topic of the podcast (Japanese Anime, invasive species, and everyone’s favorite rodent, the raccoon) with what I talk about all day long (property insurance).
- An invasive species, according to Wikipedia, (hey, I’m writing a blog, not a dissertation, I can cite non-academic sources) is “a species that is not native to a specific location, and that has a tendency to spread to a degree believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy or human health.”
- In recent years, 80% of the Buddhist temples in Japan, some of them nearly 1,000 years old, have suffered significant damage caused by raccoons (Scientific name: Procyon Lotor; colloquially referred to as a Trash Panda). They scratch at the ancient wooden pillars, punch holes in ceiling tiles, and generally treat the place like a latrine.
- In 1963, Sterling North published an autobiographical novel about his youth in rural Wisconsin (there is a museum in Edgerton), which heavily featured his friend/pet raccoon, Rascal. In 1977, an animated series was produced in Japan based on North’s book called Araiguma Rasukaru (literally “Rascal Raccoon”).
In the 99% Invisible podcast episode that inspired me to write this article, producer Vivian Le tells host Roman Mars that Rascal the Raccoon was “slightly less popular than Mickey Mouse, and more popular than Spongebob” in Japan in the late 70s and early 80s. In response, thousands of raccoons were imported to be kept as pets. As you might imagine, that didn’t go well, and the Japanese government eventually banned importation of raccoons. Raccoons have no natural predators in Japan and are now, you guessed it, an invasive species, and they are literally tearing up Japan’s cultural heritage.
It suddenly came to me as I listened: do the Buddhist monks have property insurance that covers raccoon damage? (Told you I’d get to the point). You may be asking yourself, “Wait, will my policy cover something like that?” It’s unlikely. Here’s why:
The industry standard for commercial property insurance provides coverage for “direct physical loss or damage unless the loss is excluded or limited in this policy.” (citing a legitimate source here! Insurance Services Office (ISO) form “CP 10 30 Causes of Loss – Special”) In the exclusions section you will find the following: “We [the insurance company] will not pay for loss or damage caused by or resulting from…nesting or infestation, or discharge or release of waste products or secretions, by insects, birds, rodents, or other animals.” It sounds like the Buddhist monks might have a coverage gap. There are plenty of other exclusions, including, fungus, smog, and enforcement of ordinance that are hiding out in your property policy and other policies.
So, have you talked to your agent about trash panda infestations?
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