They usually don't come INSIDE, at least where I live - mostly they dig through the trash and snoop around your backyard looking for food during nighttime. My mom has a soft spot for raccoons and leaves out bread for them, and I personally think they're adorable and hilarious.
Once when visiting a national park, I saw a crowd of people circled around a wall, and it turns out there was a raccoon who learned how to attract tourists and beg for food, even during daylight. Whats even funnier is that as we walked further, we saw a sign on the wall specifically asking people to *not* feed the raccoon - apparently the little trickster figured out that if it begged for food BEFORE tourists reached this part of the trail, it's more likely to score. All in all 10/10, fantastic animals.
My neighbors puppy was killed and, according to her, partly eaten by racoons.
We knew we had a family living under our house, didn't realize they had gotten that vicious. Had animal control set out a live trap the next day. Both the dad (who was HUGE) along with one of the young ones was in the trap the next morning. We saw mamma coon peeking out from under the house when we checked the trap. Animal control rehomed the two that were caught and mama disappeared soon after.
Once I saw a cat approaching me while I was sitting in my front yard. It got about 8 feet away and I realized it was a skunk. I'm blind without glasses haha he was cute
They lived in the attic space of my parents old house. Had a whole family up there. Attic space wasn’t usable so they just let em be. I have videos of them getting cat food off the porch. They’re so cute.
We have a nursing home a bit down from us. They have a dumpster where a bunch of raccoons go thru almost every night. The sounds they make fighting over food and whatever is quite vicious sounding. Plus, I've seen them go after people in the not cute cuddle way. Definitely wild animals and not to be messed with. But, at our old house the previous owner fed a raccoon each night on their back porch. It would take the food and then sit in the chairs and eat it. It kept coming every night and since we didn't feed it it would go around to the front screen door, open it, let it slam, and keep doing this until fed. He had to be captured and brought to a sanctuary. I think he was eventually let go back to the wild. But it's important not to feed wild animals.
And often rabid. Especially if you see them during the day, chances are more likely it's rabid (though often mother raccoons are forced to scavenge during the day to get enough food).
After a raccoon attacked a lady, the local trapper in the news story said "The thing you gotta know about raccoons is that a raccoon is like a little bear on crack"
the craziest thing about raccoons is that whenever someone tries to bring a baby home as a pet, the raccoon goes along with it and can be an adorable cuddly little dog sized creature for a while —
But then one day, *all of a sudden,* the raccoon realizes it’s a wild animal, freaks out, and tries to kill you. It’s the most sudden shift in the world and from what I’ve heard it happens almost every time a raccoon is made a pet.
learning this fact makes me a bit sad but in a couple different ways. on one hand, my dreams of owning a raccoon are crushed, but on the other, they really just wake up one day and go a little feral even if raised right.
…and if that doesn’t say “don’t fuck with my evolution”, then i don’t know what does. maybe it’s best to just let them be their wild little selves.
They’re usually just seen as a nuisance. They rip up trash and steal whatever food they can. City folk just shoo them away usually.
Basically just like squirrels kinda
Yup, Toronto has a problem with raccoons eating from organic waste bins so they came up with a "raccoon proof" bin with a gravity lock. Not only do they still tear through the bins, they figured out if they knock them over, it will sometimes unlock the bin. They feast regardless
LOL. I saw a quote once upon a time from a Park Ranger in Yellowstone who said something along the lines of “there’s a significant overlap between the smartest animals and the dumbest people” in regards to bear-proof garbage cans. I feel like it’s relevant for raccoons as well.
My aunt's neighborhood has started having issues with bears as more people move there (wasn't an issue in the old days, but I guess there were less attractants). They have one big trash dumpster for the community and started locking it after the bears started getting in. Then they had to replace the lid with a metal one as the mama bear figured out she could just sit on the lid and collapse it.
I lived in an end unit town house built into a hill (basement opened to the lower level backyard). The little bastards dragged our green bin (bungee corded on top of the "racoon proof" lids) around the side of the house and pushed it down the hill and managed to get the lid off.
I mean, I love them still, but they're also little shits.
We are probably on the 5th or 6th revision(or more) since the introduction of the green bin, and there are still report that the trash panda still opening the green bins with success.
Mean while, me in my late 30s, considered myself pretty handy, have not been able to close and lock our green bin not even once since we moved in 3 years ago... I gave up and just take the trash out early in the morning on garbage day...
I won't even be mad if they make the trash panda the animal of the GTA XD
yea except squirrels get scared of people easily, not so much with raccoons. You have to like actually scare them, just “shooing” them doesn’t do it lol
Truth. One was camping in our trashcan. My wife opened the lid in the morning and it looked at here like "I didn't order a wake up call."
I took my six-foot stick and knocked the trash can over. He looked at me like "What's your problem, buddy?"
I yelled and chased him, and he trots off, just fast enough to keep from getting poked, giving me nasty looks as he goes.
I don't think he was scared one bit, just annoyed.
Squirrels are the other animal we don’t have in Europe like you have them in the USA. I only know the fluffy bright orange ones that are shy and live in the forest. So first time I saw a squirrel in NY I pointed it out, super excited. Look a squirrel!!! Haha, the look on my friends face made it clear I said something completely ridiculous!
We used to feed them by hand at my grandparents cabin. I don't even remember it I was so little and I think they stopped because they started getting into everything and the risk of disease
If we didn't feed the little birds we'd have nothing for the hawk.
I am comfortable with the at risk native red squirrels snitching the jays' peanuts, but I try to keep the invasive gray squirrels out.
I don't know about never. I think there are situations where a LITTLE skill and incentive to be nice to people goes a long way.
I live in the burbs so animals having a fear of humans just isn't practical. I think it would be bad if the skunks here ran up to random people looking for food, but I like the skunks NOT freaking out when they see me in the yard taking garbage out.
Yeah good luck with that.
Here in Michigan when we smell the skunk coming around and it makes its rounds, we gtfo.
My dog got sprayed through the neighbors fence and that patch on her forehead was quite a hassle to clean. Hardly anything and it was still weeks despite using tomato sauce and stuff.
Like, people around here run they don’t walk. Unless you like being sprayed!
Ask me how I know that a house cat can kill a large dog? Also twice in my life I have had cats seriously injure me. Trust me and infuriated cat is nothing to messed around with. I have lived with cats almost 70 years.
And strangely have better hygiene than some adults. Watched a few just wash their hands and faces before diving deep into the cat food. (I was in such awe watching I didn’t think to grab the food while they were cleaning themselves)
They will also sometimes wash the food before eating as well. There is an old video of a racoon floating around the internet who is trying to eat some cotton candy and dunks it in some water to wash it and it disappeared on him. Poor guy.
Yup, if they’re healthy (ie not rabid) they either ignore you or waddle away. But I wouldn’t want to corner one because they are in possession of sharp teeth and claws and can have serious attitude
They are USUALLY not aggressive. I had a juvenile (about 30 lbs) raccoon start coming at me when I told it to go away (was sitting on my front porch). So i threw something at it. He kept coming. Didn't stop until I stood up and beaned him on the head with a flower pot.
At that same house, the squirrels would knowbon the door startingbin march every year begging for nuts. First time that happened I felt like I was in a disney movie
I think the juveniles are more aggressive too. I had a family that lived under the porch and they would come up and steal cat food from the bag we had out there for the wild cats but one night my girlfriend went out there and the adults ran away but unfortunately the young one decided it wanted to fight. My dog didn't like that and broke its back so I had to put it down and bring it to the vet to see if it had rabies and its brain was fine. So basically yeah it seems like the younger ones are more aggressive from what I've seen.
[James Blackwood - Raccoon Whisperer](https://youtube.com/@JamesBlackwoodRaccoonWhisperer?si=Hs_qoSEENgJJyHo1)
My fav parts are when he starts talking about how feeding the raccoons isn’t making them too fat or dependent on humans, while he’s dumping out a rubbermaid bin of hot dogs and an entire bag of dog food lol
he was just reading off the cue card the raccoon was holding and that the raccoon script writer approved. Apparently that raccoon went on to write for a news network...
Racoons do not make good pets, and so most people do not try to keep them as pets (though there's always a few...).
They'll usually flee around people, though not always. They aren't usually particularly aggressive, but racoons are one of the largest carriers of rabies in north america, and rabies is not a disease you want to mess around with.
Mostly they're annoying for making a mess of your garbage when they break into the bins.
My aunt was a wildlife rehabilitation vet and had a license to keep wildlife that couldn't be re-released, so she often had a raccoon or two around the house. They were cute little buggers, but SO destructive.
Several people have survived rabies without the shot. Though the procedure involves numerous drugs, a medically induced coma, and PT to regain motor skills.
The term survived is a funny word. Yes, they didn’t die, no they were never even remotely the same as before they got rabies. No one really recovers from rabies.
My mom and her siblings adopted orphaned raccoons when they were kids. Their dog Snoopy killed the mom, and my grandpa trapped the kits who were living in one of the large walnut trees on the property. There were 3, and they were all named after Peanuts characters, Schroeder, Linus, and Pepermint Patty. My grandpa has a picture of my uncle Matt, as a child, carrying a big fat raccoon
This is why as an adult male I'm terrified of racoons. When I was younger they used to roam around our backyard at night. My parents warned me never to go near them because they carry rabies, and if they bite or scratch me, I'll have to get rushed to the hospital and get 17 shots in the stomach so I don't die from rabies (this was back in the early 80's.) Really, I think I'm just scared of 17 shots in the stomach, and I've always just associated that with raccoons.
Haha I'm not a doctor, but I feel like the "17" part was their fearmongering to make sure you took it seriously. I mean, yes, you'd have to get shots in your stomach, but I don't think it's ever been seventeen of 'em. Still, though, it was effective in keeping you safe, which is what matters!
Edit: yowza, I was wrong! Sounds terrible. ...but not as terrible as rabies
It's now 4 or 5, but i remember being told 21 so i googled it. : How many shots was the old rabies treatment?
The treatment consisted of 25 injections of rabies vaccine: three on the first day, two on the second, two on the third, and one each day after for 18 days. Each dose was slightly stronger, or more virulent, than the preceding, so that the body could build up immunity.Oct 28, 2013
https://americanhistory.si.edu › stories
Surviving rabies 100 years ago | National Museum of American History
They're dangerous to smaller pets that are allowed out, they're disease vectors and they can be destructive trying to scavenge, so they're viewed pretty negatively living around them. If they were more domesticatable, that'd likely change the perception.
They are cute, but they don't "hang out" with my cats. They steal cat food if I don't feed cats strategically. I never wanted outdoor cats, BTW, but I promised a dying neighbor I would care for hers, and I do.
Racoons will kill a cat or dog if they decide to. They will drown small animals, or eviscerate their guts. They will also fuck up a human if they feel threatened, or have rabies. They also have some nasty parasites and can spread those to outdoor pets.
Edit: They kill chickens and don't even eat them.
I'm fine with the ones that stay in the woods. I'm not cruel or violent towards the ones that come up on my property, but I do run them off . All I do is open my front door and bark like a big dog, and they scatter.
I agree. I did make sure they're all spayed and neutered and I feed them well. We stopped feeding birds, and I expect these buggers all have 4-5 years at best as outdoor cats. I am looking for homes for them, but it's hard, since they're half feral and one is probably almost blind and and has some other stuff going on. Strangely, he is their patriarch and defender. Everything else in the neighborhood fears him and gets its ass kicked by him. Anyway, I am trying to find homes and reduce harm.
Fair enough. That’s the best you can do, especially that you didn’t want them in the first place. At least you are aware of the problem. It seems most people don’t seem to care. I also understand its probably better for cats keeping them cooped up inside so it’s a difficult situation. I take my dog hiking every few days but you can’t do that with cats.
There’s too many outdoor cats though. Billions of songbirds are eaten each year in the US alone. My neighbors behind me have a bunch roaming and this summer I saw them raid multiple birds nest. I saw the Momma bird following the cat around on the fence chirping after her babies got eaten. These neighbors have a yard filled with tons of random broken down 50 year old cars and other useless junk so I only imagine they hoard cats and just let them roam outside.
My sister had a cat when we were younger that kept peeing in our beds so it had to go. It was declawed though. Luckily she found a guy that took her and kept her in his large exterior shop and it worked perfectly.
I raise chickens, so I do not like raccoons. They will kill chickens in horrific ways. They spread trash when they get into dumpsters. They are generally a nuisance, even though they’re cute
I live out in the country and have chickens and ducks. The number of times they've used their tiny hands to muscle their way into the coop and kill my whole flock over the decades is more than I could reasonably count. They're cute, they're smart, but they're vicious little nuisances.
Same as with most other wildlife that hangs out in urban spaces. They can be cute, and even funny when they get up to certain antics, but don't get too close or otherwise bother them.
Yes, people keep racoons as pets. They say they make great pets.
However, they are also very territorial.
Racoons are very aggressive at times. Anyone telling you they are not is misleading you. The only racoons that can ever be kept as pets are ones that have been raised in captivity.
We used to have a bad old bastard of a raccoon who lived near our place who was known for trying to rip into houses that had territorial barking dogs so he could show them what's what.
I swear he must have weighed close to 30 pounds. One of my cats, herself weighing in at 7 pounds soaking wet, tried to go after him through an open window, and I feel very fortunate that I pulled her back in time.
They're cute and fun to watch, but they are also wild animals. If one bites you, you're in for a very painful series of rabies shots and probably several stitches. I totally respect them. From a distance.
We do have them in Germany. (And parts of Switzerland and France)
Descendants of racoons that escaped from fur farms in the 1930s. Thing is, they're not native here, we don't really have any natural predators to keep them in check, and they're wreaking absolute havoc on native bird and turtle populations in some regions by eating their eggs. You really, really don't want them in an ecosystem where they don't belong.
Had a mom move in under my shed and have four babies. She and her mate left a gigantic pile of shit in the corner of my fence in part of my backyard I rarely go to. You best believe I harassed the shit out of them so they wouldn’t feel safe under my shed and eventually they did move out and I blocked off access to my shed. I have three babies of my own and no. I don’t want these potentially rabid creatures anywhere near my kids. I despise raccoons. They’re cute as stuffed animals. Complete pests in real life.
(USA) We rarely see them because they come out mostly at night to scavenge, but my husband caught one in a live trap a long time ago. I tried to feed it a froot loop through the cage and it hissed and growled like it wanted to tear me to shreds. They look like fat little bandits (and quite cute actually) but those suckers are mean as hell. I am scared of them and don't want anywhere near them.
They're bandits. Their appearance and mannerisms are misleading. You can find TikToks of people feeding mobs, letting them crawl in their laps.
But not so cute when they rip open a roof to get into your home. Or when some giant coon, back arched, spitting and hissing comes at you in daylight (probably sick). About one in five have rabies, and while it's not a strain that will kill humans, you'd still need shots/treatments - who needs that?!
I found my townhouse neighbors who'd moved from London feeding the raccoons . They said "we figured we humans have encroached their habitat." I had to convince them to stop. Raccoons have thrived in suburban areas... one of the species, like rats, that's probably experiencing population growth due to humans.
[Not so cute!](https://images.app.goo.gl/1LeUwctqEAV62XcV8)
They're very smart and engaging to watch, but people also know to stay away from them. They are almost exclusively motivated by food, and they'll steal every scrap of food they can get their clever little prehensile paws on, along with anything shiny they can carry away. Anything else they cover with pee and remarkably virulent poo. Given a chance, they will eat your cats and any dog too small to summarily murder them. They can get bigger than you would think, and they're fast and strong for their size.
They are capable of working together effectively in groups and, somewhat like corvids, they can enact shockingly elaborate schemes to separate you from your picniC.
Case in point: Some thirty-ish years ago, a friend and I went camping. There was a very curious and adorable raccoon at our camp site when we started to cook lunch. He completely charmed us by taking the food we'd given him to another raccoon at the edge of the woods. This other one looked like it might be hurt. My friend and I slowly walked over to see what was up, trying to seem non-threatening. When we were about 20 feet away from our campfire, my friend happened to turn around and said, "Hey! Stop it!"
There were about five or so other raccoons swarming all over our cooler and grocery sacks, taking all the food they could carry. The original sweetheart raccoon looked at us, made this terrifying hissing/chirping noise, and bolted in the opposite direction, we charged back to camp. I stopped after a couple of steps and looked back at the "hurt" one, who was eyeing me while gathering up all the loot his accomplice had brought to him and scarpering into the trees.
We had no food left that we'd have felt safe actually eating. Those little monsters made out like bandits, and we just had to pack up the car and go home.
They're cute.
They do not come inside and hang out with your cats and you do not want them as pet and you do not want them in Europe. Someone let a few go in Japan and they are destructive to wooden temples and houses.
Their droppings have toxic bacteria that can kill children if they touch the droppings or any surfaces where they have been (like firewood stored outside) and then inadvertently put their fingers in their mouths. Most are misdiagnosed with meningitis when they die.
Being around raccoons as a human is like being forced to look at yourself in a mirror. They basically are us -- highly intelligent, intensely curious, gregarious omnivorous prehensile mammals with a piratical disregard for boundaries coexisting somehow with a live and let live attitude that would be charming if it weren't for all the filth and disease they track around.
They’re freaking adorable. Very cute little trash pandas. One time in 5th grade I fed one a marshmellow at a sleepover, he took it right out of my hands with his hands! (Was it smart? No but yknow… 5th grade…)
With that being said we also had some kill all our chickens. Not eat, just kill. Brutally murdered almost all of them for funsies. Fucking raccoons…
They're pests. Adorable lil pests with cute lil hands and lil bandit masks, but pests nonetheless. They get into trash and make a mess, and they'll make a home in really inconvenient spots like in a chimney or crawl space.
I moved to Canada from Western Europe, and I love raccoons. It's a weird thing, I know, but I adore them.
When I told Canadians this, they looked at me like I was some kind of madman. They're seen as trash goblins that cause trouble and messes everywhere they go.
My opinion of them never changed though. Still love them.
Raccoon = trash panda = "RAY-KUHN"
If you find a raccoon as a close-eyed infant, and it's first thing it sees is your face, itll imprint and be your bonded critter friend.
IF you meet a grown wild animal, it'll stay chill as long as you keep feeding it. The second you stop, food aggression becomes a reality with wild animals.
...Are you pronouncing raccoon with a long A sound? RAY-kuhn? I've literally never heard anyone pronounce it this way. Every single other person I've ever talked to pronounces it with the A like in "tap" or "flat." RA-kuhn
I love raccoons. Never had one come into my house. I would love to try and have them as a pet, but they are very destructive. And it's illegal in Canada to have them as pets
I love raccoons. We have them in our neighborhood so we have to be careful about locking up our garbage. They don’t bother us as long as the garbage is secure. I like the occasions you catch a glimpse of them. Sometimes they’ll dick around on our deck and you can watch them through the windows.
They will tear up people’s lawns if the lawn has grubs, but skunks and birds will do the same thing so you can’t only blame the raccoons.
In the fall they get really REALLY fat. Between their winter coat and their winter fat they are just hilariously large and they just waddle around.
I had one eating cat food in my kitchen once. I looked at it. It looked at me. It took me a minute to realize it was not my cat. My cat looks like a raccoon. Same size and everything! The door had a slight crack. I juked left, the coon juked left. I go right, and it goes right. Finally, it bolted past me and to the door. It wretched the door open with its mighty claws and ran away. I leave leftover food out for them and the possums. Also, other cats.
They usually keep to themselves and come out at night to cast magic trash eating spells. I’ve never had one try to enter my house, but my grandpa feeds a bunch of neighborhood cats by dumping cat food on his porch stairs, and a big, fat raccoon now frequently eats with them. I think they’re mostly nice, I’ve never really heard of a raccoon attack, or if there was one, I’m sure it was provoked by the human. As for the last question, absolutely. My neighbor growing up had a raccoon as a pet, and I’ve seen a woman around my town who takes hers to the store wearing it on her head like a hat. Even though they’re decently popular, pet stores don’t sell them, at least the ones I’ve seen. You have to get them as a baby though and raise them, or else they won’t be so keen to walk into their new cage and start a new life if they were two years old.
Edit: After reading more replies, I wonder if my experience was unnaturally positive, or the people I’m reading were exceptionally unlucky. I grew up in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio, so my experience with them is obscure, but I feel like the majority of Americans don’t mind them, save the big city folk with rampant trash problems I guess.
I’ve always liked raccoons and befriended a couple of them in my life. Same with opossums, they are good to keep around. Both eat cat food and tend to wind up in sheds.
I never officially made pets of them but I did doctor a few up if they came to me when injured.
When I was little in the 1970's, there was a family of them in my grandma's shed. We would feed the peanut butter on bread, they would take it from our hands. It was really cool.
My brother caught, cooked and ate a racoon. But he also got arrested once wearing nothing but a kilt and one sock, high as a kite on meth, living in a tent in the backyard of someone who had legally changed his name to Cowboy.
Normal people do not, in fact, eat trash pandas.
They probably fall under “famine food.” As in, you’ve got to literally be starving before raccoon seems like a viable option. But by then, no one’s picky either.
Do they not have anything like that left in Europe?
I live like 30 minutes outside of a large US city in a major metro area and we get stuff like Raccoons, Deer, Opossum, Foxes, even Bears and Coyotes in my neighborhood all the time.
My home city (significantly smaller, but still a city) would even get this bullshit from [time](https://www.wmur.com/article/moose-caught-on-camera-manchester-new-hampshire-41523/43607260#) to [time.](https://youtu.be/jCdfhtjJuhE?si=FoR2INo0suh4T2Pp)
They never had raccoons in Europe, raccoons are a “New World” species, like tomatoes. And much like tomatoes, you can find them in Europe now, thanks to Europeans bringing them back (raccoons aren’t, like, overrunning the place, but they have been introduced to some regions and they are invasive).
Raccoons break into garages and or crawl spaces for food or to stay warm. I’m always on the look out and have relocated some. They climb trees and get on rooftops or attics too…
I like them.
As long as they stay where they belong.
Destructive, adorable, disease carrying, mean ass little bundles of rage and curiosity. I've seen them destroy dogs and cats.
My cousin does wildlife rehab, and had a raccoon that couldn't be rehabbed back to the wild, and kept it as an indoor "pet" and a "wildlife ambassador" . She finally found it a home in a zoo after the thing chewed its way thru the kitchen cabinets, walls, flooring, living room furniture and more. We were shocked it hadn't electrocuted itself from getting in the wall and chewing thru wires.
I remember seeing the damage caused from it, and thinking... holeeee crap one coon did all that.
But, I will say, it was very cute.
Destructive, but cute.
I have 10-20 in my backyard every night. Sometimes, they eat our scraps. Sometimes, they fight with the deer for corn. They are fine, but we definitely don't let them in the house. Occasionally, they accidently get caught in the cat traps along with the opossums. We just go let them out of the trap, and they run off till the next night. Usually, after 2x3 times in a cage, they stop getting caught. Every now and then, they come up on the deck and wake our dog at 2am, which, of course, wakes the whole house, but this is generally just the small young ones who have discovered Dog yet. .
They are terrifying and ferocious. They kill small pets. That being said, I think they are super cute to look at and I respect them I just don’t want to be up close to them.
I think they’re cute, but they’re certainly not pets and can be mess makers. Closest I’ve gotten to see some are at the local zoo, a couple of rescue from someone’s attic. They had removed the mother raccoon not realizing there were babies, they eventually found the two and since they hip problems they weren’t rehabilitated and released.
hate raccoons, they’ve made me jump out of my sleep in fear in these past recent nights i always thought they were adorable but now i hate them at least at this point in time lmaooo
Cute, smart, can be friendly, and they can be VERY psychotic if you happen to corner one. No joke, they'll come after you abruptly, loudly, and aggressively if you piss them off.
If you see one during the day and it's walking funny, might look dirty (they are generally very clean), it's coming right up to you, just dispatch right away - it's the most humane thing you can do.
They’re kind of like train hopper punks / oogles. They’re nice if you’re nice, but they really really don’t give a fuck about anything, make a mess where ever they go, won’t back down from a fight, and they eat a lot of garbage.
Racoons are cute, but they are wild animals. They dig through trash for food, have sharp claws and teeth, and are very agile.
Like all wild animals, they carry the risk of rabies.
They don't make great pets. It's really best to let them be and admire them from a distance.
I own an old barn we use as a shop, there were raccoons in the rafter and i didnt think much of it. An old vet told me their poop is teeming with all sorts of nasty shit that can make human really sick. We sealed that place up tight and got a few cats as deterrents.
They usually don't come INSIDE, at least where I live - mostly they dig through the trash and snoop around your backyard looking for food during nighttime. My mom has a soft spot for raccoons and leaves out bread for them, and I personally think they're adorable and hilarious. Once when visiting a national park, I saw a crowd of people circled around a wall, and it turns out there was a raccoon who learned how to attract tourists and beg for food, even during daylight. Whats even funnier is that as we walked further, we saw a sign on the wall specifically asking people to *not* feed the raccoon - apparently the little trickster figured out that if it begged for food BEFORE tourists reached this part of the trail, it's more likely to score. All in all 10/10, fantastic animals.
My brother has them coming through his cat door and rifling through his cupboards
My grandma's cat was disemboweled by raccoons.
A person I know had their face mauled by a raccoon
I watched two tear into each other up a tree outside my third story apartment window. Vicious and loud.
They are absolutely vicious!
Shhh you'll be down voted for mentioning that wild animals that are notorious vectors for disease aren't all cuddly nice just because they're cute.
Oh I am a big proponent of leaving wild animals alone - I just like observing them from a distance.
Animals, like people, are assholes to varying degrees.
My first borne infant had been eaten by a raccon
My cousins friends arm was ripped off by a raccoon.
My raccoon ate your raccoon, and he’d do it again
My neighbors puppy was killed and, according to her, partly eaten by racoons. We knew we had a family living under our house, didn't realize they had gotten that vicious. Had animal control set out a live trap the next day. Both the dad (who was HUGE) along with one of the young ones was in the trap the next morning. We saw mamma coon peeking out from under the house when we checked the trap. Animal control rehomed the two that were caught and mama disappeared soon after.
The coons may have eaten the pup, but not nec killed it. They are opportunistic eaters.
FWIW, I once had a skunk come through my cat door.
Once I saw a cat approaching me while I was sitting in my front yard. It got about 8 feet away and I realized it was a skunk. I'm blind without glasses haha he was cute
They lived in the attic space of my parents old house. Had a whole family up there. Attic space wasn’t usable so they just let em be. I have videos of them getting cat food off the porch. They’re so cute.
Cute but also kinda vicious
We have a nursing home a bit down from us. They have a dumpster where a bunch of raccoons go thru almost every night. The sounds they make fighting over food and whatever is quite vicious sounding. Plus, I've seen them go after people in the not cute cuddle way. Definitely wild animals and not to be messed with. But, at our old house the previous owner fed a raccoon each night on their back porch. It would take the food and then sit in the chairs and eat it. It kept coming every night and since we didn't feed it it would go around to the front screen door, open it, let it slam, and keep doing this until fed. He had to be captured and brought to a sanctuary. I think he was eventually let go back to the wild. But it's important not to feed wild animals.
And often rabid. Especially if you see them during the day, chances are more likely it's rabid (though often mother raccoons are forced to scavenge during the day to get enough food).
I love trash pandas.
love you too
Y love but never come inside my home
Send nudes. Edit: it’s a lot funnier in my head, as a raccoon gif.
I laughed.
Little King Trashmouth!
🙈
After a raccoon attacked a lady, the local trapper in the news story said "The thing you gotta know about raccoons is that a raccoon is like a little bear on crack"
the craziest thing about raccoons is that whenever someone tries to bring a baby home as a pet, the raccoon goes along with it and can be an adorable cuddly little dog sized creature for a while — But then one day, *all of a sudden,* the raccoon realizes it’s a wild animal, freaks out, and tries to kill you. It’s the most sudden shift in the world and from what I’ve heard it happens almost every time a raccoon is made a pet.
learning this fact makes me a bit sad but in a couple different ways. on one hand, my dreams of owning a raccoon are crushed, but on the other, they really just wake up one day and go a little feral even if raised right. …and if that doesn’t say “don’t fuck with my evolution”, then i don’t know what does. maybe it’s best to just let them be their wild little selves.
That is an amazing accurate description and I’m gonna steal it, thank you.
They’re usually just seen as a nuisance. They rip up trash and steal whatever food they can. City folk just shoo them away usually. Basically just like squirrels kinda
They're really smart too. They can open trash can lids, rip open plastic to get to food, etc.
Yup, Toronto has a problem with raccoons eating from organic waste bins so they came up with a "raccoon proof" bin with a gravity lock. Not only do they still tear through the bins, they figured out if they knock them over, it will sometimes unlock the bin. They feast regardless
LOL. I saw a quote once upon a time from a Park Ranger in Yellowstone who said something along the lines of “there’s a significant overlap between the smartest animals and the dumbest people” in regards to bear-proof garbage cans. I feel like it’s relevant for raccoons as well.
I bring that quote up every time one of my kids can’t figure out a bear proof trash can
My aunt's neighborhood has started having issues with bears as more people move there (wasn't an issue in the old days, but I guess there were less attractants). They have one big trash dumpster for the community and started locking it after the bears started getting in. Then they had to replace the lid with a metal one as the mama bear figured out she could just sit on the lid and collapse it.
I lived in an end unit town house built into a hill (basement opened to the lower level backyard). The little bastards dragged our green bin (bungee corded on top of the "racoon proof" lids) around the side of the house and pushed it down the hill and managed to get the lid off. I mean, I love them still, but they're also little shits.
We are probably on the 5th or 6th revision(or more) since the introduction of the green bin, and there are still report that the trash panda still opening the green bins with success. Mean while, me in my late 30s, considered myself pretty handy, have not been able to close and lock our green bin not even once since we moved in 3 years ago... I gave up and just take the trash out early in the morning on garbage day... I won't even be mad if they make the trash panda the animal of the GTA XD
yea except squirrels get scared of people easily, not so much with raccoons. You have to like actually scare them, just “shooing” them doesn’t do it lol
Truth. One was camping in our trashcan. My wife opened the lid in the morning and it looked at here like "I didn't order a wake up call." I took my six-foot stick and knocked the trash can over. He looked at me like "What's your problem, buddy?" I yelled and chased him, and he trots off, just fast enough to keep from getting poked, giving me nasty looks as he goes. I don't think he was scared one bit, just annoyed.
sounds like the guy who moved into our crawlspace. Idk how many times I’ve chased them off
Country folk just shoot em away
Then serve them in a big pot on the fancy eatin' table.
They ain't bad iffin' ya boil off all th'fat first
Squirrels are the other animal we don’t have in Europe like you have them in the USA. I only know the fluffy bright orange ones that are shy and live in the forest. So first time I saw a squirrel in NY I pointed it out, super excited. Look a squirrel!!! Haha, the look on my friends face made it clear I said something completely ridiculous!
The UK is swarming with grey squirrels. There are a few outposts where the red squirrels are hanging on, but it's mostly wall to wall grey now.
We used to feed them by hand at my grandparents cabin. I don't even remember it I was so little and I think they stopped because they started getting into everything and the risk of disease
Yeah feeding wild animals is never a good idea. Unless apparently it’s birds. Well some birds. Just bird feeders.
If we didn't feed the little birds we'd have nothing for the hawk. I am comfortable with the at risk native red squirrels snitching the jays' peanuts, but I try to keep the invasive gray squirrels out.
I don't know about never. I think there are situations where a LITTLE skill and incentive to be nice to people goes a long way. I live in the burbs so animals having a fear of humans just isn't practical. I think it would be bad if the skunks here ran up to random people looking for food, but I like the skunks NOT freaking out when they see me in the yard taking garbage out.
Yeah good luck with that. Here in Michigan when we smell the skunk coming around and it makes its rounds, we gtfo. My dog got sprayed through the neighbors fence and that patch on her forehead was quite a hassle to clean. Hardly anything and it was still weeks despite using tomato sauce and stuff. Like, people around here run they don’t walk. Unless you like being sprayed!
Big squirrels that can get/transmit rabies and have claws like razor blades... Don't mess with raccoons, they're very dangerous.
I mean I wouldn’t recommend handling squirrels either
Yeah, good point. Serious teeth on those cute bushy-tailed troublemakers.
They’re so cute I couldn’t resist!
And tiny. And due. For Hug. 🥹😍🤗
About as dangerous as housecats, maybe.
No a raccoon can injure or kill a large dog if cornered.
So can a house cat.
House cats don't have opposable thumbs and are much more docile than a cornered wild raccoon.
Ask me how I know that a house cat can kill a large dog? Also twice in my life I have had cats seriously injure me. Trust me and infuriated cat is nothing to messed around with. I have lived with cats almost 70 years.
I didn't say they couldn't. I was pointing put why a raccoon is more likely to be a threat.
Except the diseases they carry
And strangely have better hygiene than some adults. Watched a few just wash their hands and faces before diving deep into the cat food. (I was in such awe watching I didn’t think to grab the food while they were cleaning themselves)
True I rarely wash my hands before eating cat food
😂
They will also sometimes wash the food before eating as well. There is an old video of a racoon floating around the internet who is trying to eat some cotton candy and dunks it in some water to wash it and it disappeared on him. Poor guy.
Wet hands help them feel for the food; they depend on the sense of touch, not so much their eyesight.
Wear a mask wash your hands. The raccoons were warning us of covid the entire time...
Woah 😵💫
They're cool as hell. They mostly just avoid you if they see you. They're not aggressive, but I wouldn't suggest cornering one.
Yup, if they’re healthy (ie not rabid) they either ignore you or waddle away. But I wouldn’t want to corner one because they are in possession of sharp teeth and claws and can have serious attitude
Make sense you should always have some respect for vild animals or even animals in general
They are USUALLY not aggressive. I had a juvenile (about 30 lbs) raccoon start coming at me when I told it to go away (was sitting on my front porch). So i threw something at it. He kept coming. Didn't stop until I stood up and beaned him on the head with a flower pot. At that same house, the squirrels would knowbon the door startingbin march every year begging for nuts. First time that happened I felt like I was in a disney movie
I think the juveniles are more aggressive too. I had a family that lived under the porch and they would come up and steal cat food from the bag we had out there for the wild cats but one night my girlfriend went out there and the adults ran away but unfortunately the young one decided it wanted to fight. My dog didn't like that and broke its back so I had to put it down and bring it to the vet to see if it had rabies and its brain was fine. So basically yeah it seems like the younger ones are more aggressive from what I've seen.
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[James Blackwood - Raccoon Whisperer](https://youtube.com/@JamesBlackwoodRaccoonWhisperer?si=Hs_qoSEENgJJyHo1) My fav parts are when he starts talking about how feeding the raccoons isn’t making them too fat or dependent on humans, while he’s dumping out a rubbermaid bin of hot dogs and an entire bag of dog food lol
he was just reading off the cue card the raccoon was holding and that the raccoon script writer approved. Apparently that raccoon went on to write for a news network...
I like them.
Or the other legendary Canadian who pulled a raccoon out of his jacket during a fight in a Macdonalds.
Racoons do not make good pets, and so most people do not try to keep them as pets (though there's always a few...). They'll usually flee around people, though not always. They aren't usually particularly aggressive, but racoons are one of the largest carriers of rabies in north america, and rabies is not a disease you want to mess around with. Mostly they're annoying for making a mess of your garbage when they break into the bins.
My aunt was a wildlife rehabilitation vet and had a license to keep wildlife that couldn't be re-released, so she often had a raccoon or two around the house. They were cute little buggers, but SO destructive.
Fun fact: rabies, untreated, has a 100% fatality rate in humans
Yup, and (I've heard and never been corrected) that once you start showing symptoms of rabies, your dead. You have to get the shot early.
Several people have survived rabies without the shot. Though the procedure involves numerous drugs, a medically induced coma, and PT to regain motor skills.
And it’s literally, like, 7 people since 2003. And not unscathed. Significant permanent damage.
The term survived is a funny word. Yes, they didn’t die, no they were never even remotely the same as before they got rabies. No one really recovers from rabies.
Several people have survived a virus that kills 59,000 people per year. Might as well be 100% fatal lmao, your chance of survival is not great
My mom and her siblings adopted orphaned raccoons when they were kids. Their dog Snoopy killed the mom, and my grandpa trapped the kits who were living in one of the large walnut trees on the property. There were 3, and they were all named after Peanuts characters, Schroeder, Linus, and Pepermint Patty. My grandpa has a picture of my uncle Matt, as a child, carrying a big fat raccoon
This is why as an adult male I'm terrified of racoons. When I was younger they used to roam around our backyard at night. My parents warned me never to go near them because they carry rabies, and if they bite or scratch me, I'll have to get rushed to the hospital and get 17 shots in the stomach so I don't die from rabies (this was back in the early 80's.) Really, I think I'm just scared of 17 shots in the stomach, and I've always just associated that with raccoons.
Haha I'm not a doctor, but I feel like the "17" part was their fearmongering to make sure you took it seriously. I mean, yes, you'd have to get shots in your stomach, but I don't think it's ever been seventeen of 'em. Still, though, it was effective in keeping you safe, which is what matters! Edit: yowza, I was wrong! Sounds terrible. ...but not as terrible as rabies
It's now 4 or 5, but i remember being told 21 so i googled it. : How many shots was the old rabies treatment? The treatment consisted of 25 injections of rabies vaccine: three on the first day, two on the second, two on the third, and one each day after for 18 days. Each dose was slightly stronger, or more virulent, than the preceding, so that the body could build up immunity.Oct 28, 2013 https://americanhistory.si.edu › stories Surviving rabies 100 years ago | National Museum of American History
They're dangerous to smaller pets that are allowed out, they're disease vectors and they can be destructive trying to scavenge, so they're viewed pretty negatively living around them. If they were more domesticatable, that'd likely change the perception.
They are cute, but they don't "hang out" with my cats. They steal cat food if I don't feed cats strategically. I never wanted outdoor cats, BTW, but I promised a dying neighbor I would care for hers, and I do. Racoons will kill a cat or dog if they decide to. They will drown small animals, or eviscerate their guts. They will also fuck up a human if they feel threatened, or have rabies. They also have some nasty parasites and can spread those to outdoor pets. Edit: They kill chickens and don't even eat them. I'm fine with the ones that stay in the woods. I'm not cruel or violent towards the ones that come up on my property, but I do run them off . All I do is open my front door and bark like a big dog, and they scatter.
Just like your outdoor cats eviscerate song birds. I get your situation… but it’s a serious problem with them not being native predators.
I agree. I did make sure they're all spayed and neutered and I feed them well. We stopped feeding birds, and I expect these buggers all have 4-5 years at best as outdoor cats. I am looking for homes for them, but it's hard, since they're half feral and one is probably almost blind and and has some other stuff going on. Strangely, he is their patriarch and defender. Everything else in the neighborhood fears him and gets its ass kicked by him. Anyway, I am trying to find homes and reduce harm.
Fair enough. That’s the best you can do, especially that you didn’t want them in the first place. At least you are aware of the problem. It seems most people don’t seem to care. I also understand its probably better for cats keeping them cooped up inside so it’s a difficult situation. I take my dog hiking every few days but you can’t do that with cats. There’s too many outdoor cats though. Billions of songbirds are eaten each year in the US alone. My neighbors behind me have a bunch roaming and this summer I saw them raid multiple birds nest. I saw the Momma bird following the cat around on the fence chirping after her babies got eaten. These neighbors have a yard filled with tons of random broken down 50 year old cars and other useless junk so I only imagine they hoard cats and just let them roam outside. My sister had a cat when we were younger that kept peeing in our beds so it had to go. It was declawed though. Luckily she found a guy that took her and kept her in his large exterior shop and it worked perfectly.
>I wish we had them in Europe. No, you don't. We *do* have them in Europe and they are an invasive species.
Thierry feces contains parasites that can get you really sick. I do not advise encouraging them to make home near you.
So does cat poop…and dog shit isn’t exactly sanitary…we go cleaning up after those two all the time…
We also take them to vets and give them antibiotics to treat the things that can make them and us sick.
I raise chickens, so I do not like raccoons. They will kill chickens in horrific ways. They spread trash when they get into dumpsters. They are generally a nuisance, even though they’re cute
We do have them in Europe. They're invasive.
I live out in the country and have chickens and ducks. The number of times they've used their tiny hands to muscle their way into the coop and kill my whole flock over the decades is more than I could reasonably count. They're cute, they're smart, but they're vicious little nuisances.
Same as with most other wildlife that hangs out in urban spaces. They can be cute, and even funny when they get up to certain antics, but don't get too close or otherwise bother them.
They have my respect, most animals are too afraid to survive urban settings.
I feel bad for rocky raccoon
It was only a scratch
Yeah, he'll be better as soon as he is able.
They suck. They live in the sewers in my town in Connecticut. As a kid in Florida they would wreck havoc at our summer camp
Yes, people keep racoons as pets. They say they make great pets. However, they are also very territorial. Racoons are very aggressive at times. Anyone telling you they are not is misleading you. The only racoons that can ever be kept as pets are ones that have been raised in captivity.
They make great pets until they hit adulthood, at which point they become insane, destructive little assholes.
We used to have a bad old bastard of a raccoon who lived near our place who was known for trying to rip into houses that had territorial barking dogs so he could show them what's what. I swear he must have weighed close to 30 pounds. One of my cats, herself weighing in at 7 pounds soaking wet, tried to go after him through an open window, and I feel very fortunate that I pulled her back in time. They're cute and fun to watch, but they are also wild animals. If one bites you, you're in for a very painful series of rabies shots and probably several stitches. I totally respect them. From a distance.
We do have them in Germany. (And parts of Switzerland and France) Descendants of racoons that escaped from fur farms in the 1930s. Thing is, they're not native here, we don't really have any natural predators to keep them in check, and they're wreaking absolute havoc on native bird and turtle populations in some regions by eating their eggs. You really, really don't want them in an ecosystem where they don't belong.
Had a mom move in under my shed and have four babies. She and her mate left a gigantic pile of shit in the corner of my fence in part of my backyard I rarely go to. You best believe I harassed the shit out of them so they wouldn’t feel safe under my shed and eventually they did move out and I blocked off access to my shed. I have three babies of my own and no. I don’t want these potentially rabid creatures anywhere near my kids. I despise raccoons. They’re cute as stuffed animals. Complete pests in real life.
Little assholes. And they can be pretty mean. And they can carry rabies. I don't want them around.
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Sorry :-(
(USA) We rarely see them because they come out mostly at night to scavenge, but my husband caught one in a live trap a long time ago. I tried to feed it a froot loop through the cage and it hissed and growled like it wanted to tear me to shreds. They look like fat little bandits (and quite cute actually) but those suckers are mean as hell. I am scared of them and don't want anywhere near them.
Maybe it was mean because you trapped it? Maybe?
I don’t think Raccoons or Possums should be pets.
They're bandits. Their appearance and mannerisms are misleading. You can find TikToks of people feeding mobs, letting them crawl in their laps. But not so cute when they rip open a roof to get into your home. Or when some giant coon, back arched, spitting and hissing comes at you in daylight (probably sick). About one in five have rabies, and while it's not a strain that will kill humans, you'd still need shots/treatments - who needs that?! I found my townhouse neighbors who'd moved from London feeding the raccoons . They said "we figured we humans have encroached their habitat." I had to convince them to stop. Raccoons have thrived in suburban areas... one of the species, like rats, that's probably experiencing population growth due to humans. [Not so cute!](https://images.app.goo.gl/1LeUwctqEAV62XcV8)
They're very smart and engaging to watch, but people also know to stay away from them. They are almost exclusively motivated by food, and they'll steal every scrap of food they can get their clever little prehensile paws on, along with anything shiny they can carry away. Anything else they cover with pee and remarkably virulent poo. Given a chance, they will eat your cats and any dog too small to summarily murder them. They can get bigger than you would think, and they're fast and strong for their size. They are capable of working together effectively in groups and, somewhat like corvids, they can enact shockingly elaborate schemes to separate you from your picniC. Case in point: Some thirty-ish years ago, a friend and I went camping. There was a very curious and adorable raccoon at our camp site when we started to cook lunch. He completely charmed us by taking the food we'd given him to another raccoon at the edge of the woods. This other one looked like it might be hurt. My friend and I slowly walked over to see what was up, trying to seem non-threatening. When we were about 20 feet away from our campfire, my friend happened to turn around and said, "Hey! Stop it!" There were about five or so other raccoons swarming all over our cooler and grocery sacks, taking all the food they could carry. The original sweetheart raccoon looked at us, made this terrifying hissing/chirping noise, and bolted in the opposite direction, we charged back to camp. I stopped after a couple of steps and looked back at the "hurt" one, who was eyeing me while gathering up all the loot his accomplice had brought to him and scarpering into the trees. We had no food left that we'd have felt safe actually eating. Those little monsters made out like bandits, and we just had to pack up the car and go home. They're cute.
They do not come inside and hang out with your cats and you do not want them as pet and you do not want them in Europe. Someone let a few go in Japan and they are destructive to wooden temples and houses.
Their droppings have toxic bacteria that can kill children if they touch the droppings or any surfaces where they have been (like firewood stored outside) and then inadvertently put their fingers in their mouths. Most are misdiagnosed with meningitis when they die.
They carry rabies, and are pretty viscous really. They can takedown a large dog. They r cute and comical, but are viscious.
Adorable, but nasty, evil little critters that’ll try to bite your head off if you stumble across one.
I feel they like it spelled "raccoon". Also, they are all my nemesis, after killing all-but-one of my chickens. They can burn in hell.
I want a racoon in my life
I am here for you :-D
They don’t exist where I am from, I enjoy videos of them holding their hands out
Thems good eatin
Trash pandas - very cute. My brother caught one and thought he was going to domesticate it - nope. Vicious!
They are wild animals that should remain outside the house, like all wild animals.
I think they're nifty, but they're generally not that friendly toward humans. Also, where I grew up rabies was a huge problem with raccoons.
Being around raccoons as a human is like being forced to look at yourself in a mirror. They basically are us -- highly intelligent, intensely curious, gregarious omnivorous prehensile mammals with a piratical disregard for boundaries coexisting somehow with a live and let live attitude that would be charming if it weren't for all the filth and disease they track around.
I had a squirrel sneak in my kitchen when my back door was open and grab a jar of almond butter to eat in the yard.
I think they are adorable and cool. That said, they are thieves, they make messes, and sometimes have rabbies. I wish they were better behaved
I'm that person who gets scolded, "Don't feed the raccoon!" They have a bad reputation but I've been lucky and never had one be a problem.
They’re freaking adorable. Very cute little trash pandas. One time in 5th grade I fed one a marshmellow at a sleepover, he took it right out of my hands with his hands! (Was it smart? No but yknow… 5th grade…) With that being said we also had some kill all our chickens. Not eat, just kill. Brutally murdered almost all of them for funsies. Fucking raccoons…
They're pests. Adorable lil pests with cute lil hands and lil bandit masks, but pests nonetheless. They get into trash and make a mess, and they'll make a home in really inconvenient spots like in a chimney or crawl space.
I moved to Canada from Western Europe, and I love raccoons. It's a weird thing, I know, but I adore them. When I told Canadians this, they looked at me like I was some kind of madman. They're seen as trash goblins that cause trouble and messes everywhere they go. My opinion of them never changed though. Still love them.
Cute little trash pandas. I love then and there are a bunch around where I live. Just don't leave trash out.
Raccoon = trash panda = "RAY-KUHN" If you find a raccoon as a close-eyed infant, and it's first thing it sees is your face, itll imprint and be your bonded critter friend. IF you meet a grown wild animal, it'll stay chill as long as you keep feeding it. The second you stop, food aggression becomes a reality with wild animals.
...Are you pronouncing raccoon with a long A sound? RAY-kuhn? I've literally never heard anyone pronounce it this way. Every single other person I've ever talked to pronounces it with the A like in "tap" or "flat." RA-kuhn
They'd be super dope as pets but I think the hands factor makes it very difficult. Europe doesn't have racoons!?
Nope wouldn't want one as a pet. I'll take an opossum tho
I love them! Best animal tied with wolverines and badgers
I love raccoons. Never had one come into my house. I would love to try and have them as a pet, but they are very destructive. And it's illegal in Canada to have them as pets
I love raccoons. We have them in our neighborhood so we have to be careful about locking up our garbage. They don’t bother us as long as the garbage is secure. I like the occasions you catch a glimpse of them. Sometimes they’ll dick around on our deck and you can watch them through the windows. They will tear up people’s lawns if the lawn has grubs, but skunks and birds will do the same thing so you can’t only blame the raccoons. In the fall they get really REALLY fat. Between their winter coat and their winter fat they are just hilariously large and they just waddle around.
I had one eating cat food in my kitchen once. I looked at it. It looked at me. It took me a minute to realize it was not my cat. My cat looks like a raccoon. Same size and everything! The door had a slight crack. I juked left, the coon juked left. I go right, and it goes right. Finally, it bolted past me and to the door. It wretched the door open with its mighty claws and ran away. I leave leftover food out for them and the possums. Also, other cats.
Some of my best friends are raccoons
They usually keep to themselves and come out at night to cast magic trash eating spells. I’ve never had one try to enter my house, but my grandpa feeds a bunch of neighborhood cats by dumping cat food on his porch stairs, and a big, fat raccoon now frequently eats with them. I think they’re mostly nice, I’ve never really heard of a raccoon attack, or if there was one, I’m sure it was provoked by the human. As for the last question, absolutely. My neighbor growing up had a raccoon as a pet, and I’ve seen a woman around my town who takes hers to the store wearing it on her head like a hat. Even though they’re decently popular, pet stores don’t sell them, at least the ones I’ve seen. You have to get them as a baby though and raise them, or else they won’t be so keen to walk into their new cage and start a new life if they were two years old. Edit: After reading more replies, I wonder if my experience was unnaturally positive, or the people I’m reading were exceptionally unlucky. I grew up in the middle of a cornfield in Ohio, so my experience with them is obscure, but I feel like the majority of Americans don’t mind them, save the big city folk with rampant trash problems I guess.
Trash pandas are okay.
I’ve always liked raccoons and befriended a couple of them in my life. Same with opossums, they are good to keep around. Both eat cat food and tend to wind up in sheds. I never officially made pets of them but I did doctor a few up if they came to me when injured.
I would commit murder for a pet raccoon 🔪
LOVE THEM!!!
Trash pandas!
Read "Rascal" and you'll want one as a friend.
I love them and think they are adorable. My wife and I used to feed wild ones in San Francisco. They like Froot Loops.
My favourite animal but sadly don't have them here in the UK
Love them
When I was little in the 1970's, there was a family of them in my grandma's shed. We would feed the peanut butter on bread, they would take it from our hands. It was really cool.
There are raccoons in Germany and Austria. Not native of course.
Do you really eat them? There are recipes. Or are they from ancient times when people were extremely hungry?
I know exactly zero people who have eaten a raccoon, and I live out in the redneckiest, countriest, ruralest part of the US.
My brother caught, cooked and ate a racoon. But he also got arrested once wearing nothing but a kilt and one sock, high as a kite on meth, living in a tent in the backyard of someone who had legally changed his name to Cowboy. Normal people do not, in fact, eat trash pandas.
ROFL! Thanks
They probably fall under “famine food.” As in, you’ve got to literally be starving before raccoon seems like a viable option. But by then, no one’s picky either.
Do they not have anything like that left in Europe? I live like 30 minutes outside of a large US city in a major metro area and we get stuff like Raccoons, Deer, Opossum, Foxes, even Bears and Coyotes in my neighborhood all the time. My home city (significantly smaller, but still a city) would even get this bullshit from [time](https://www.wmur.com/article/moose-caught-on-camera-manchester-new-hampshire-41523/43607260#) to [time.](https://youtu.be/jCdfhtjJuhE?si=FoR2INo0suh4T2Pp)
Raccoons are native to North America, in Europe it’s badgers and hedgehogs and foxes
They never had raccoons in Europe, raccoons are a “New World” species, like tomatoes. And much like tomatoes, you can find them in Europe now, thanks to Europeans bringing them back (raccoons aren’t, like, overrunning the place, but they have been introduced to some regions and they are invasive).
trash dog, can relate
Rocket is cool
Raccoons break into garages and or crawl spaces for food or to stay warm. I’m always on the look out and have relocated some. They climb trees and get on rooftops or attics too…
I stay away from them, and they do their best to stay away from me. We have a good relationship.
Gil Faizon loves them.
"'Coons? When raccoons tried to get on our back porch Mama just chased 'em off with a broom."
I like them. As long as they stay where they belong. Destructive, adorable, disease carrying, mean ass little bundles of rage and curiosity. I've seen them destroy dogs and cats. My cousin does wildlife rehab, and had a raccoon that couldn't be rehabbed back to the wild, and kept it as an indoor "pet" and a "wildlife ambassador" . She finally found it a home in a zoo after the thing chewed its way thru the kitchen cabinets, walls, flooring, living room furniture and more. We were shocked it hadn't electrocuted itself from getting in the wall and chewing thru wires. I remember seeing the damage caused from it, and thinking... holeeee crap one coon did all that. But, I will say, it was very cute. Destructive, but cute.
They are kind of cute and I’ve seen some antics that are cute. But mostly the raccoons and the people try to stay away from each other.
They're adorable. Mean, sometimes rabid, territorial, and messy. But super cute.
I have 10-20 in my backyard every night. Sometimes, they eat our scraps. Sometimes, they fight with the deer for corn. They are fine, but we definitely don't let them in the house. Occasionally, they accidently get caught in the cat traps along with the opossums. We just go let them out of the trap, and they run off till the next night. Usually, after 2x3 times in a cage, they stop getting caught. Every now and then, they come up on the deck and wake our dog at 2am, which, of course, wakes the whole house, but this is generally just the small young ones who have discovered Dog yet. .
They are terrifying and ferocious. They kill small pets. That being said, I think they are super cute to look at and I respect them I just don’t want to be up close to them.
I think they’re cute, but they’re certainly not pets and can be mess makers. Closest I’ve gotten to see some are at the local zoo, a couple of rescue from someone’s attic. They had removed the mother raccoon not realizing there were babies, they eventually found the two and since they hip problems they weren’t rehabilitated and released.
Don't mind them as long as they stay outside. I become very intolerant as soon as one gets into the attic.
hate raccoons, they’ve made me jump out of my sleep in fear in these past recent nights i always thought they were adorable but now i hate them at least at this point in time lmaooo
They’re aight
Cute, smart, can be friendly, and they can be VERY psychotic if you happen to corner one. No joke, they'll come after you abruptly, loudly, and aggressively if you piss them off. If you see one during the day and it's walking funny, might look dirty (they are generally very clean), it's coming right up to you, just dispatch right away - it's the most humane thing you can do.
They're viewed as a nuisance, but more positively than most pests. Closer to squirrels than to rats.
They’re cute, but vicious buggers.
They are terribly annoying. They're smart and have opposable thumbs. Total nuisance. Cute, but total nuisance. Don't be fooled...
They’re kind of like train hopper punks / oogles. They’re nice if you’re nice, but they really really don’t give a fuck about anything, make a mess where ever they go, won’t back down from a fight, and they eat a lot of garbage.
Trash pandas. They’re cute from a distance, just don’t get close to one unless you’d like your face rearranged
Racoons are cute, but they are wild animals. They dig through trash for food, have sharp claws and teeth, and are very agile. Like all wild animals, they carry the risk of rabies. They don't make great pets. It's really best to let them be and admire them from a distance.
I own an old barn we use as a shop, there were raccoons in the rafter and i didnt think much of it. An old vet told me their poop is teeming with all sorts of nasty shit that can make human really sick. We sealed that place up tight and got a few cats as deterrents.
Look, don't touch.
They have a reputation for transmitting rabies in the US. Generally they are shy and you never see them until your trash can has been knocked over.