I met a guy with a pet racoon. It quickly manipulated all the childproof latches put in place for their toddler. Once I saw it waddle into the kitchen, opened a childproofed cupboard, took out a box of Cheese-its, tucked it under its arm, then waddled away while using the other paw to stuff Cheese-its into its mouth. I was legit impressed.

@Biiku_

20 күн бұрын

That was me, my bad. Thought I was home.

@barbiincognito13

20 күн бұрын

Did you close the cupboard door? 😂​@@Biiku_

@barbiincognito13

20 күн бұрын

I'm in the Great Lakes region and where I live we love them! They are a known part of our local wildlife, beloved and prepared for because they are crazy smart! Our locals come right up for snacks and pets, but they are very socialized so I don't know that that's always the case, or safe. Glad you got to meet one up close, they get a bad rap❤

@steggopotamus

20 күн бұрын

​@@Biiku_dude, you have a furry butt

@MonkeyJedi99

20 күн бұрын

Never doubt the ingenuity of the Raccoon Federation!

I have actually watched a raccoon stand on top of another racoon and turn a door knob to open a door to get them into a building's kitchen.

@dawnschoeller788

21 күн бұрын

My brother’s neighbor caught them in his garage stacking paint cans in order to climb up to the dog food on a high shelf. They are smart and crafty! 😮

@lisasmith7066

21 күн бұрын

😂😂😂😂

@theCommentDevil

21 күн бұрын

We had some here that actually unscrewed bird feeders in order to get them down

@brianjones9780

21 күн бұрын

This is why they're one of my favorite animals. They have a squad mentality like the penguins from that movie Madagascar

@bootsmith8016

20 күн бұрын

I believe it; one unlatched our ice chest, opened it, opened a carton of eggs inside it, and cracked and ate a number of eggs leaving almost clean shells neatly nested.

I am an American and I luv Raccoons. I have a family of them living under my porch along with a family of groundhogs and an opossum. I put cat food and left overs on the porch with fresh water and they leave my trash cans alone. Stray cats in the area come up to eat as well. Everyone gets along and I catch the feral cats and get them fixed. Everyone is happy. There is nothing cuter than watching the raccoons babies climb about and explore the porch for the first time each year. One baby once picked up a river rock and used it to knock on the door until I answered it because the food bowl was empty. They are very sweet and very smart.

@figurativelyliterally9796

10 күн бұрын

That sounds so charming ❤

@NocturnalDoom

9 күн бұрын

Thank you for sharing ❤ I came here for this comment. It feels like most people just don’t appreciate them at all.

@AnaLucia-wy2ii

6 минут бұрын

They’re so cute. ❤ But it’s not cute if they get into your garbage.

I was a Diesel mechanic in the Army back in the 90’s. We sometimes used the back of our Deuce & a Half truck as a place to sleep while drilling in the woods. Two mechanics would be in sleeping bags on top of the work benches, the third on a cot on the floor between the benches. One night I was on the bench sleeping & woke to what sounded to me like a person with a higher pitched voice mumbling and grunting in their sleep. When my eyes adjusted I realized that the biggest damn Raccoon I’d ever seen was sitting right on the chest of my sleeping Staff Sgt enjoying a bag of chips someone left out! It liked the chips so much it was making happy noises. I froze, afraid to make a noise or move & freak it out. This went on for 5-10 minutes before it turned around and walked right out of the truck. The Sgt. slept through the whole thing.

@ClyDIley

8 сағат бұрын

Yep, thats Gary

Wait until this guy finds out about opossums

@LindaC616

21 күн бұрын

Lol, right!?

@harrymaciolek9629

21 күн бұрын

Opossums are cool, even if they are ugly. Plus they eat ticks!

@RatKindler

21 күн бұрын

Opossums only recently migrated up to Toronto, so when I saw one on my security camera I didn't know what it was. It looked like a giant rat. I eventually figured out that it was an opossum and have since seen them several times. They still seem like exotic immigrants to me.

@prometheus5997

21 күн бұрын

@@RatKindler there is one that lives on my college campus. I see it walking around every now and then

@prometheus5997

21 күн бұрын

@@harrymaciolek9629 I’ve seen some fairly cute ones

I genuinely cackled at your "RACCOONS CAN CLIMB TREES" epiphany. It never occurred to me that anyone might not realize they could do that.

@nogames8982

20 күн бұрын

I was surprised by that also. I mean, where do you think they live most of their time? Up a tree.

@glahtiguy

20 күн бұрын

Most people are surprised at how well they swim, I don't think I've met anyone that didn't know they were little gymnasts.

@MaggieLiz

20 күн бұрын

@@nogames8982 he's talking midwest, it's my understanding there aren't many dense patches of trees there.

@nogames8982

20 күн бұрын

@@MaggieLiz you don’t have to have dense patches of tall trees. Just trees in the neighborhood are enough for raccoons if the trees are big enough. or even just a few trees along the river side. I see a lot of them in places like that. Doesn’t have to be a huge, dense forest at all. But I’m sure there are a few that don’t live near many trees at all, they’ll find a place to be. Kind of like coyotes, they are everywhere now.

@bripa3890

20 күн бұрын

​@@MaggieLizdepends where in the Midwest. Im from Wisconsin and its nothing but trees for the most part. Wisconsin, michigan and Minnesota are pretty much continuous forest outside the major cities

They remind me of particularly bold and fearless toddlers. I had one stand next to our car and watch me as I chowed down on a burger in the parking lot at 3 am, as one does. Being enamoured, I rolled down the window and held part of my burger out to him... he walked up, gently took it with his little hands, moved back a step, and stood there to enjoy sharing a burger with me. No wonder they're a bit of a city mascot in Toronto.

@paradisepipeco

2 сағат бұрын

They do tend to be more polite in Canada.

One of the most disturbing sounds you will hear in the middle of the night, the violent screams raccoons fighting over a bird feeder. Right up there with the haunting sounds of great horned owls, and the howls of packs of coyotes from multiple directions almost like they are competing to see who's pack is louder getting especially loud at the sound of ambulance siren.

@donreid6399

Күн бұрын

Listen to a fox scream. Talk about a scary sound to hear in the middle of the night when you're alone!

@MayimHastings

Күн бұрын

There is nothing worse than the scream of a wild boar, though! When i was a little kid, we were all awakened in the middle of the night to what sounded exactly like our neighbor screaming bloody murder. My mom called over there and the neighbor said no, it was just a boar in their yard 😂. Mountain lion screams are pretty awful, too.

@drcovell

3 сағат бұрын

NOTHING sounds as eerie a fox screaming!

I had an encounter with a raccoon while camping in western Pennsylvania. He limped into my campsite and looked at my daughter as if to say "feed me, a poor disabled animal." She gave him part of a hot dog bun, which he snatched, ate, and then scampered off with no sign of the limp. No doubt he used this ruse regularly.

@LifesGuardian

18 күн бұрын

Very smart little buggers.

@gregharris3202

18 күн бұрын

They are smart little tricksters

@josephcernansky1794

18 күн бұрын

I've seen that same "raccoon" at the intersection in my town!! Has an old, ragged coat on and a rough beard too! Even has a sign too! "Disabled...homeless and hungry...any little bit helps." Tricky buggers, those "racoons"! They'll do the darndest things to CON you out of your stuff!!

@kirstencorby8465

15 күн бұрын

LOL I had a cat who used to do that.

@DustyQatun

15 күн бұрын

​@@josephcernansky1794what the fuck is wrong withyou

I woke up one night to find 5 raccoons in my kitchen. They had managed to open a window, open the refrigerator, and they were emptying it out, by passing the food piece by piece to each other and out the window.

@misseli1

20 күн бұрын

They seem like characters out of a cartoon

@HappyLife693

20 күн бұрын

Wow. They are great at teamwork.

@whirving

20 күн бұрын

Were the raccoons "talking"? I've seen them chatter to each other and the cadence and variation of the chatter sounded like speech. I had always passed this off as a tall tale until I actually saw it. It was a mother raccoon with a bunch of kids (whatever juvenile raccoons are called) and they came rolling down the hill through some ivy and onto the path in front of me. I was sitting down, it was dark and they didn't notice me. The mother raccoon started chattering, chastising the little ones to behave and follow. The little raccoons were jabbering away to each other too. It just seemed like speech, not random at all.

@thomashaapalainen4108

20 күн бұрын

I had the same thing happen . A mother and her babies. The fact it was a mother with babies scared me not knowing how she'd react to me around them. Me and my 20lbs maincoon just stood there as they all looked up and slowly left through the screen door they busted open. The mother left with two fist fulls of dry cat food.😅

@HappyLife693

20 күн бұрын

@@thomashaapalainen4108 ohhh snap!!

I worked at a lighthouse in northern California. We had lots of raccoons! We had pit toilets next to the cliff, and it wasn't uncommon to find them in the pits when it was super cold and windy. They also are very smart- they learned that if they stood under the "Don't feed the raccoons " sign, and waited for the humans to go click click with little metal things, that they would get treats. They learned to pose for the cameras! And they also knew that they could trap the humans in the kiosk/ticket booth, that we would throw out snacks in order to leave. The mother raccoons took advantage of this one in particular. They also can open some doors and latches and unscrew jars.

@billyyank5807

8 күн бұрын

Yea,they have thumbs!!

@aaronburkeen6409

2 күн бұрын

That sounds like something monkeys would do. The locking people in and only letting them out when offered food. I hope they do not learn that this also works with cell phones.

When my husband first started gardening he had a huge problem with raccoons ransacking his garden at night. He asked his grandpa what to do since fencing and traps weren't working. He asked if adding a net covering the garden would help. Grandpa shook his head and said that we'd just have to grow enough food to share. I've found a deep respect for raccoons and enjoy all their fascinating quirks.

20 years ago, I was riding back home from Sprint car races with a friend in his old truck. We were on a 4 lane highway with sparse traffic and came upon a dead raccoon in the road. Beside it were two healthy raccoons trying to wake it up and drag it out of the road. We stopped right there, he put his hazards on, and againt better judgment we got out and approached the raccoons. We both got about 4 or 5ft away and stopped. They saw us. One of them ran up to me and fucking looked up at me while tugging on my pantleg with its little hands. I know they're not human, but damn it, they certainly have some human-like traits. I took its behavior as a plead for help, so we carefully moved the dead raccoon off the highway, and they ran up beside it, but safe now. While sad, it's one of my favorite memories.

@calvinkatt662

14 күн бұрын

I wonder if the dead raccoon was the mother of the two other raccoons.

@Data-qj7mo

14 күн бұрын

@calvinkatt662 idk, maybe. They were all full grown though.

@chey7691

13 күн бұрын

​@@Data-qj7mo They do remember their family, even after years.

@eno6712

12 күн бұрын

​@@Data-qj7mo" full grown " can be a yearling who survived the winter. The Mothers are often very Fat and well fed even after pregnancy, they don't hibernate and are great at feeding themselves . They are very Human like, I honestly think they might be one of the more intelligent animal . Which Is kinds annoying.

@Data-qj7mo

12 күн бұрын

@@eno6712 Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for the information.

My late Dad told me that he'd tried to put a stick through the lid handles of his two old-fashioned metal trash cans to deter raccoons. He later saw a raccoon pull out the stick, break it in half, and toss it aside, before digging into the trash.

@PhantomQueenOne

17 күн бұрын

They don't like chilies or mint. To keep them out of the trash blend up the hottest chilies you can find with water and brush it on the inside of the trash can lid (not where you touch it). You could do this with dried pepper flakes, but you have to add water as well. You can do the same with mint. The strongest mint you can find, or mint extract. Spread in the inside of the lid. If they get into bird food, put chilli flakes (like the kind that pizza places have) and mix it with the bird food (I have a five gallon pail for my bird food) not many raccoons in the center of town where I live) so I don't need to. You don't need a whole lot, but mix in very well. Birds can't taste the chilies, and it doesn't bother them at all. Raccoons, after a taste will more than likely leave it alone. Like all mammals, raccoon's bodies react to the capsaicin in the chilies. Wear food safe gloves when you mess with chilies! Don't put mint in bird food, it can be toxic... to even humans. That's why extract is in very small bottles.

South Dakota resident here. A friend of mine has a pet raccoon she has raised since it was abandoned by its mother 2 years ago. They can live upwards of 30 years in captivity…good thing she has the time and energy to take care of it.

The "arukun" origin is sooo cute i heard the discription and shared it with my mum and we both vehemently agreed "they've got lil hands!!!"

They’re not afraid of people. They don’t run away, they stand their ground. I think of them as mini Grizzly bears.

@MoonbeamGardener

19 күн бұрын

That is a great description.

@sorryifoldcomment8596

19 күн бұрын

Not my generation of raccoons...They always back down, just slowly. I usually have to give them a chance to run away first, because they'll freeze when they see humans. But, when they realize I do in fact need to use the dumpster and I'm not walking away, then they go scrambling back into the trees. In fact, they've spooked me by running away all of a sudden before I notice them. I'm just trying to throw the trash away and suddenly a raccoon comes bursting out, desperate to get away. All of the raccoons I'm talking about are definitely related though. Might be more docile genes passed down? If they didn't back down and if they caused tenants problem, then apartment management would have had to crack down on their population. Our huge sprawling complexes here have been in the same place with the same dumpsters & tree area for at least 50 years...so maybe the company did some quelling of the raccoon population decades ago, accidentally leaving alive a couple who were well behaved and hid from humans, setting them up to enjoy all the food and have all the babies, passing down their sissy genes while also socializing them to be afraid of humans...resulting in generations of raccoons that still have a flee response, despite never being personally attacked by humans? I got to witness a mom raising 5 babies like 2 seasons ago, all the way until they were adult size and for a bit looked like a scary gang of raccoons all running around after one another lol (usually only see 1-3 at a time)...all of whom were surrounded by raccoons who always fled from humans 24/7. I mean, it sometimes takes them awhile when they get so Fuckin fat they can hardly move. 😂 So it can feel like they're not actually trying to avoid you...but if you stop and wait, you'll realize they are leaving because of your presence. They're just so fat they struggle to move fast lol. The raccoons that live next to me are ridiculous haha. Hopefully they stay chill, because I will absolutely not tolerate any aggression from creatures I'm constantly within a couple feet from.

@flushmastercyclonis186

19 күн бұрын

Unlike grizzlies, the common trash panda doesn't do so well if you give it a good whack with a shovel. They tend to vacate the area rather quickly after that, assuming they retain the physical capacity.

@Steve-ev6vx

19 күн бұрын

.22

@cheriestolze

19 күн бұрын

Sitting around a campfire once, a raccoon scratched my back, presumably to ask politely for a s’more.

The fact they wash their food is what gives us the amazing videos of them accidentally losing their cotton candy whenever they try to eat it lol

@mcmackj

20 күн бұрын

One of my favorite GIFs! The poor critter, though. 😂

@danirizary6926

20 күн бұрын

White bread is fun too.

@OrsonBuggy1958

20 күн бұрын

We had a few come around for awhile.. I would throw them sugar cubes and they would take them down to the creek to wash them.. They were surprised when their paws were suddenly empty.

@muleb384

18 күн бұрын

@@Curmudgeon2 That isn't correct. The only mammals that lack salivary glands are dolphins and the like. Look it up for yourself :)

@CoffeeCakeCrumble

17 күн бұрын

Fun fact, they're not washing it. The pads on their paws experience hightened sensitivity in water. They're actually super-feeling what they're holding to understand what it is.

We quite literally just rescued three orphaned raccoon pups on Monday. The mother was hit on the road in front of our house and the babies were left in our ditch. We found a rescue to take them and they have been taken in by a lovely woman who specializes in juvenile animal rehab. These three were severely dehydrated by the time we found them so they may not all survive but we at least gave them a better chance than they had before. We love raccoons in general, despite thier destructive habits. They have a place in our ecosystem as much as other scavengers and what I refer to as the "clean up crew" of the animal kingdom. And, as my wife says, theyre just so darned cute 🙂

I did my fellowship in Houston TX in the 90's. My buddy and I lived a block away from the Astrodome. On Friday evenings, we would take a couple of quarts of his excellent home-brewed blueberry wheat beer and sit in a couple of folding aluminum chairs by the dumpster in his apartment parking lot, watching the 17 giant raccoons that lived in the adjacent lot raid the dumpster. We were almost close enough to touch them, but we didn't bother them, and they didn't bother us. More fun than a barrel of monkeys. Man, those were good times.

I heard a story one time about a guy who had had raccoons getting into his trash, and one day he realized that they were just rummaging through the trash to find his discarded alcohol containers to drink the dregs off the bottom, so he started leaving those on the ground next to the trash can and the raccoons left his trash alone after that, and then one day he happened to go outside at exactly the right moment to see 4 or 5 raccoons come up to his trash can to get his empty alcohol containers and have a drink together and then quietly leave.

@Volyren

17 күн бұрын

I feed 3 now, and one is chill with petting and wrestling. Same thing. Got tired of my trash being spread around, so I just put my leftovers out for them. Now, they know to come inside if its raining. I put the food just inside the cat-door. 2 eat and enjoy the dry towels, and one just mud-foots it through the house, hops on the couch, watches tv and looks at me like "my chicken nuggets ain't gonna oven themselves, bro." The other 2 eat and leave, unless its storming. But they'll wait it out by the door. I lucked out. Mine are really chill and respectful. And they pay for their food. They bring me shinies. Mostly soda tabs and tin foil, but some coins, too. Theres 2.35$ in their college fund, after 2 years. I think Stumpy could get a job at NASA with a proper education. Yep. He'd be the best janitor at NASA.

@MrBendylaw

17 күн бұрын

Later that same gang of raccoons were busted in a tri-state drug sting. Lacking the ability to operate pipes and lighters, they'd been dealing weed to the neighborhood kids in return for 'assistance'. Thankfully, it stopped there and seemingly didn't make it out to the wider raccoon population.

@huitrecouture

16 күн бұрын

That's HILARIOUS. No it's not rabies, they're just drunk!

@cassieporter9262

16 күн бұрын

@@Volyren I have to disagree. Good janitors don't knock over trash cans.

@Volyren

16 күн бұрын

@@cassieporter9262 as long as he's fed, neither does he. Not like he has a lot of applicable skills. I mean, he knows how to operate a cat remotely with a laser pointer, as long as the button is taped down. Much like us, raccoons apparently like running them into walls the best. Not sure how you'd translate that ability into work. Oh. Wait. Stumpy can teach high school.

My family has adored raccoons since before I was born. My great-great-uncle was a logger in Mississippi. He once fell a tree in which a mother raccoon was nesting. She died on impact, but her babies survived. They had not yet opened their eyes, so he kept one and gave the other to my mom. The very first thing either of the babies saw was a human, so they acted much like any other pet. They are, in fact, little menaces. But they're also highly intelligent and just quirky and cute enough that they're endearing. I have endless stories about the kind of stuff my mom's raccoon did, but my favorite is that it did not understand that ice cream would melt under water. So my mom would give it a scoop of ice cream, which it would then carry to the sink, wash, then look on in bewilderment as its ice cream went down the drain.

@carlamarlene2927

15 күн бұрын

My husband had a raccoon n tells that if you want to frustrate your raccoon give it a sugar cube

@gammaboy4568

9 күн бұрын

@@carlamarlene2927 cotton candy just straightup disappears, it's just lighter sugar.

@dennisharrell2236

Күн бұрын

​@@gammaboy4568There are hilarious videos of this on KZread. The raccoons just look confused.

I raised several raccoons throughout my childhood while growing up in the middle of absolute nowhere on a 1200 acre farm. They were hands-down the best pets ive ever had (my crows are a close second. INSANELY awesome animals!) The babies' mother had died and i took them in when their eyes were still closed. I'd wake up in the middle of the night to bottle feed them and get them to go to the bathroom. They were so adorable, intelligent, and mischievous little pricks 😂 (same with my crows). The raccoons would scamper onto my lap and pat all around my face with their velvety hands, and always tried to shove them into my nose, mouth and ears, looking for goodies 😂 They'd purr like cats while napping on my lap by the barn, and they also eventually got along with the farm dogs and cats. The last raccoon I raised, i was in tenth grade and he was the absolute best. I'll NEVER forget getting off the school bus and seeing him passed away further down the driveway. I was in such shock i hoped he was just napping. Turned out my dad accidentally hit him with the tractor. That was the first time I ever experienced true, physically painful heartbreak; I remember feeling as if my heart actually had a gaping hole in it 💔 I was so devestated but tended to never cry in front of family, so I'd hold it in and break down in the shower, and this lasted for months. You experience the pain of death VERY early in life if you grow up on a farm, but this one hit me in a completely different way. I still miss the ever-loving shit out of my "wild" pets, and will always remember them so fondly.

In all seriousness, you have to give massive respect to raccoons, for their sheer tenacity and zest for life, and their off the charts intelligence.

We found abandoned ones in our garage. We bought a playpen and raised them on catfood and bananas that they adored. They went on their way when they were older, and visited every once in a while. But when we moved, they came back to say goodbye and on breaks between loading the truck they would climb in our laps and let us pet them.

@gsgaming6976

16 күн бұрын

❤

@KarlLind

16 күн бұрын

😢❤️

@kirstencorby8465

15 күн бұрын

That is so sweet, my gosh.

@bronco1199

15 күн бұрын

Very sweet

@derealized797

15 күн бұрын

I've befriended the raccoons in my neighborhood, or at least, starting a few years ago i began leaving scraps and leftovers out for a pregnant racoon. She became very tame, trusting me a lot, and every year when she had new babies she would introduce them to me. So now she's gone off, not sure if she'll be back, but she left 3 of her now grown up offspring behind. Since she left they've become more comfortable with me. if i turn the light on in the back room i see them pop out in the yard to look inside at me, if i go out they all run over to greet me, follow me around acting playful. Mostly during the colder months i try harder to leave food out for them, they love grapes, they're always friendly and respectful never making a mess or anything. My point was never to make them dependent on me for food. I just wanted them to feel safe, i know some people aren't as friendly towards them, and i know certain things are good to have in their diet so... just trying to help them a little bit. They're going to eat trash anyway, but i try to offer healthier stuff along with it. fruits and nuts, helps through cold months.

Coming into the kitchen in the middle of the night to find a momma raccoon with her three babies chowing down on the dog kibble is not fun at all. They had let themselves in through the doggie door.

@LindaC616

21 күн бұрын

I don't have a dog, but I hear that there are doors that can be activated by a tag on your dog's collar. So your dog is the only one getting in

@CDCI3

21 күн бұрын

I mean... That SOUNDS fun. I promise you, I would have stopped, tried to slowly move to a sitting position, and watched them if I hadn't already scared them off.

@canisblack

21 күн бұрын

I don't have a doggie door. Stories like this are why I never will. I've had my own poor experiences with them which make me die a little inside every time I hear or see somebody calling them "trash pandas."

@ljosephdumas3113

21 күн бұрын

My father grew up in Kentucky in the 1920s-30s. He had a pet raccoon (as well as a pet ferret), so I've always had a soft spot for the critters - even when they smashed my trash. 🦝🦝🦝

@robertveith6383

21 күн бұрын

You can't continue to not have any changes with your doggy door, or this will happen again, or some other unwanted creature will get inside.

I had a pet racoon when I was 2 years old. He stayed with us until he was about 15 years old. He used to sneak into the house and sleep in my crib with me. He also would open the kitchen cupboard door, pull out a fresh box of cat food, gnaw it open and spill it out for himself and the three cats.

While camping I had a racoon literally rip through the side of my tent to get at a pack of granola bars. A friend (also camping) watched a racoon saunter right up to a plate of food he had set next to his chair, grab it by its front paws and drag it away. He was so bemused by the racoon's audacity he didn't even try to stop it.

Trash Pandas used to live under my mother's deck, right in the middle of a town of 30K people. We have pictures of my nephew as a toddler, matching hand-to-paw with baby raccoons through the back kitchen door. Raccoon are intelligent, adaptable, and intensely curious. Equipped with excellent hand-paws, and surprisingly strong, they can get into pretty much any casually-closed container you can name; Special security is required. Oh, and those hand-paws? Freddy Krueger would be proud - they've got nasty sharp claws on them. Do NOT piss off a raccoon - you WILL regret it.

@simpleitsdanny

15 күн бұрын

Ive seen a video on the many black hands coming out from the deck… threw me off till I found out they were raccoons.. nightmare fuel forsure

@khdur

14 күн бұрын

This makes me think of the Lutefisk cure for Coons living under the porch.

@angelacrabtree2847

14 күн бұрын

They will also lure predators into the water and climb on their heads to drown them.

@benda18

13 күн бұрын

Trash panda is the correct name

@harvbegal6868

13 күн бұрын

I heard about my aunt's little dog getting messed up by one. Yeah, those claws slice and dice.

Plenty of people in the US like raccoons, but there are two main reasons they are disliked: 1 - They can turn a trashcan into a disaster area. If humans eat it, so will raccoons. And they'll happily scrounge for our leftovers. 2 - In the US they are one of the main vectors for rabies (along with bats and skunks.) Worldwide dogs are overwhelmingly the most common vector, but we actually do a pretty good job vaccinating them here. Rabies in humans is very rare in the US (low single digits each year,) but it's not something you want to mess with. Treatment is very effective if done early, but once symptoms appear it's close to 100% fatal.

@-Keith-

19 күн бұрын

They can carry a lot more diseases that are pretty bad for humans too.

@mi2lq933

19 күн бұрын

3- They will brutally murder all of your chickens.

@bugvswindshield

19 күн бұрын

um, ya.... about 5 people die of rabies in the USA per year. Most years none from a raccoon. You have a much greater chance of being killed by a human, lighting, gator, deer, rattle snake, falling off a ladder. etc. 1.5 people die in volleyball accidents per year. What I'm saying is...fear mongering is horrible trait.

@jakeaurod

19 күн бұрын

They also spread worms, like Baylisascaris procyonis.

@Leightr

19 күн бұрын

@@mi2lq933 And ducks too.

You didn't mention that they're also known as "trash pandas." That seems like a fun bit of trivia that British people might not know.

biggest issue with raccoons is that they have no fear of humans... it's scary when you swing a broom at an animal that's less than one tenth your size on your deck and stomp your feet and scream at it... and it just sits there looking at you, and will just go back about rummaging through your garbage can

When I was a girl growing up in New England, one of the perks of having Wendy’s for supper was the raccoons. Let me explain… in true American fashion when the parents were too tired to bother with a home cooked meal we would pop through the Wendy’s drive through and then pull into a spot in the parking lot to eat, and at this Wendy’s their dumpsters backed onto a large open natural area, so we would, as a family, be sitting at dusk, eating our fast food and watching the family of raccoons that were also sitting there, at dusk, eating their fast food and watching us! Even as a kid I saw the humor in the situation and we were a pro-raccoon family so we would make up stories about the raccoon family and sort of mystery science theater their antics in the dumpster. If you’ve ever seen Linda Belcher’s love for their raccoons it was quite similar, and while we weren’t quite as creative with names, we stuck to r names like Ricky and Rachel and Rebecca and stuff, I for one love our little trash bandits here in North America! Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

@Broken_robot1986

17 күн бұрын

I've always had good experiences with them, they always seem to have a positive attitude, and who doesn't love little hands?

@josephwilliams1915

16 күн бұрын

That sounds awesome, hahaha. My aunt had a pet raccoon. It was blind and abandoned. I loved that raccoon. I used to play video games and feed him cheetos hahahaha. He would climb all over the couch and cuddle.

@matthewfors114

16 күн бұрын

that is new england for ya

@LordOceanus

16 күн бұрын

That is very wholesome

@AndromacheNY

16 күн бұрын

I love raccoons. so so much. ❤

On a camping trip in Florida, we had raccoons unzip our tent and eat our bag of peanuts. Next time we left the tent we used bailing wire to tie the zippers together out of reach of the racoons. They got inside anyway and because they found no food this time, they took a shit on my dad's sleeping bag. They're bloody relentless.

@PK-pp3lu

15 күн бұрын

The shit was a warning to have food next time or else

@fictionalgeographic

14 күн бұрын

So polite, I've lived in Florida 30+ years and normally see them slash through the fabric of the tent wall and crawl on through

@Ifailedeverything

14 күн бұрын

That was an FU for hoarding your peanuts 🦝

@rengarcia5189

14 күн бұрын

You've never seen an animal use shit and puke as a weapon like the Trash Pandas do.

@Agiantpansy

13 күн бұрын

Are you sure that was a raccoon, did you see them? Sounds like textbook Florida-man behavior to me.

Back in the 80s, my Dad brought home an orphaned raccoon. 2 babies were beside it's dead mother. His friend took the other baby. We raised him for awhile then released him to my grandparents wild property. A definite highlight of my childhood.

I LOVE those little bandits! Last year we had a family come to our backyard. There were 3 babies and mom and dad! The babies were SOO CUTE!!!❤ I feed the Raccoons every night.

The idiom "barking up the wrong tree" originated in the early 1800s in America, when raccoon hunting with dogs was popular. The term was originally used literally to describe when a raccoon would trick dogs into thinking it was in one tree when it had actually escaped to another.

@jerelull9629

18 күн бұрын

I heard the story as hunting squirrels, since they're light enough to jump from tree to tree using the longest, lightest branches. The dogs properly identified the trees they climbed from the ground, but didn't follow their Arial escape to the next tree.

@whatabouttheearth

17 күн бұрын

​@@jerelull9629 Dogs for squirrel hunting? I've only known of dogs to be used for hunting racoons

My ex and I actually raised a raccoon. His mom abandoned him in our yard. He was honestly a really entertaining pet to have. Once he was fully grown though, we let him come and go as he pleased. He eventually showed up with a bunch of friends. We knew better than to feed them, but every now and then they'd all show up and just kind of hang out.

@vincedibona4687

18 күн бұрын

Ain’t no other kind of party than a trash panda party.

@joesickler5888

17 күн бұрын

Coyotes got my cat. Then a couple weeks later a coon came limping up. All messed up from the coyotes. I started feeding him cat food and he got better. He’d hang around too and I named he Ricardo. Then one day he came pawing at my slider and i yelled to my girlfriend omg I think Ricardo is pregnant. So she became Ricarda and soon I had 3 coons hanging around. I caught the baby’s in the pool once, and I ever caught the baby’s and a small possum eating cat food out of the same bowl I’d left. That one threw me through a loop. Edit: And is the story of how I misgendered a raccoon for nearly a year.

Reacoons, while having a reputation of trash looting and potentially carrying diseases, are actually adorable with the way they scurry and eat with there paws. I've seen them on my front porch one time through the big window of my door eating leftover food for the local cats. It was the most majestic thing I've ever seen and made me appreciate them more, especially with how chill they were.

I have raccoons. Like 20. I also get a new batch of kits every spring. I love them! They're weaponized cuteness!

My favorite raccoon incident: As a kid, I was riding with my parents on a brief sightseeing drive through part of the Great Smoky Mountains. A large van in front of us was slowly cruising along, the family inside pointing out all the wildlife to their kids, sometimes throwing treats to them. A pair of raccoons, just off the road on the passenger side, was practically putting on a show for the tourists as they played and begged for food. The van stopped to feed them. Meanwhile, we watched a third raccoon make a fast scramble in through an open window on the other side of the van, behind the driver; and then immediately come diving back out the same way, with what looked to be a full unopened bag of jumbo marshmallows. As soon as he did, the first two raccoons ran off to join him. Don't feed the animals, folks.

@stevenr5534

15 күн бұрын

Yes! Don't feed the animals. And keep a watch so that the animals don't just help themselves.

@Variety_Pack

15 күн бұрын

They'll bamboozle you with a show and then eat your lunch!

@silver1step

11 күн бұрын

Racoons are basically yogi bear but like for real life. They will run a show & dance to steal your picnic basket.

@FrogsForBreakfast

8 күн бұрын

Not only will they steal from you, but they are much more likely to get hit by a car.

@achimdemus-holzhaeuser1233

7 күн бұрын

And don't show them Yogi Bear Cartoons.

When I was a kid, we had four cats. They used to go in and out through the cellar. One day one rattled the cellar door latch (sat on a shelf to reach) to be let in. A minute later the second did the same. Then the male scratched at the door. He never learned to rattle the latch. I let him in. Then the fourth scratched. I was pleased because he usually just sat on the top step and waited for someone to realize that they hadn't seen him in a while. It was a huge raccoon, it walked in, looked up at me and then made a noise, the cats responded, and he went into the kitchen and joined them in eating. When he was finished, he went back to the door and waited for me to let him out. Found out later that the closest neighbor was feeding him, but was on vacation.

I raised a baby racoon to eventually release it back to the wild. That racoon was such a fun experience. Hilarious, and could get into so much mischief. Raccoons have a special place in my heart.

We abandoned our garden shed after a family of raccoons nested in there. Our bikes and the lawn mower were in there. My parents would borrow the neighbors lawnmower rather than go in there. Every night they would climb out of the shed, climb the drain pipe and scurry about on roof outside of my window. You haven't experienced true terrorby waking up at 2am and have 10 pairs of eyes looking in your room. The closest panic I've experienced since then is walking out of my office building in Philadelphia, only to see a rat the size of a French bulldog eating the remains of a hot dog. I think it waved me. Now where I live, I get regularly chased by wild turkeys and occasionally by an alpaca (there's a ton of alpaca farms nearby and they escape). Sometimes these critters fight each other which is wild. The house across the street has a trampoline in their front yard and the turkeys and alpacas fight over it. Ninety percent of the time the turkeys win, probably due to the sheer number of them.

The cutest, most frustrating, and clever animal ever.

I'm an American who likes raccoons. In the town I used to live in, they moved around town via the storm drain system, but they learned to be quite tame, and would go up to people sitting on their porches and beg for food, and if they learned to trust you, would even bring their babies to you. My cat made friends with one. The deer were really tame, too. And my cat also tried to make friends with the deer, but I discouraged it because I was afraid she'd get accidentally stepped on if a deer panicked and bolted.

@LindaC616

21 күн бұрын

I have seen them in the sewer system here, too. A family of them live near the university and would emerge from one sewer drain at 7:00 p.m. and walk about 30 m down to the next train and pop back in. But they could be seen in the trees on the cliffs and on campus

@TechnicolorMammoth

21 күн бұрын

I think you used to live in Heaven.

@Dfarrey

21 күн бұрын

I'm American, and I love raccoons. My sister raised an orphaned raccoon when I was younger, and he was a great little weirdo.

@FLPhotoCatcher

21 күн бұрын

@@LindaC616 Wow, they ride the train?

@caroljo420

21 күн бұрын

Be careful. A friend of mine had raccoons coming in their cat door and eating the cat's food, but one day they killed his cat. So he sat on the kitchen floor overnight, and when the raccoon came in, he shot it. There are some people who won't be nice when you hurt their cat, and I'm one of them.

I saw a racoon in the middle of a city. He walked down the sidewall at a leisurely pace. When he got to the street, he ran across the street at top speed. When he got to the side walk again, he slowed own to his former pace.

When I was a kid soda pop bottles were glass and came in big flat wooden crates/cases/trays, 24 bottles to a crate. My grandparents piled the crates of empties outside the workers' door of their restaurant for the delivery guys to put onto their truck after they'd delivered the fresh supply of full pop bottles once per week. My cousin rescued a young raccoon that we treated as a pet for a while (he was just SO cute, with perfect little hands). Every night, after we went to bed he would come to the "empties pile", pick up a bottle, get the last couple drops out of all the bottles it could reach, then srop the empty empty ones randomly like Henry VIII tossed bones at a feast. We kids had had the job of picking them all up, putting them back into the cases, then re-piling the cases neatly... every morning. Lather, rinse, repeat. But he sure was cute.

They're sometimes called "trash pandas." We had them in our attic, years ago. They'd gotten in through the vent openings in the soffit. We had a company come and trap them, and when they were sure they'd gotten all of them, they boarded over the vent opening (not a smart idea, as that can lead to dry rot in your attic). Anyway, it wasn't too long before the raccoons were back, and since we're poor, we couldn't afford to have the removal company come back. So we bought some live-traps and caught them ourselves. They'd worked their way down the walls and ended up in our basement. We took them out to a forest preserve a few miles away and released them. That was fine, for a while. Then the squirrels came. You have no idea how annoying it is to have wildlife tap-dancing over your head at 2 in the morning. 😡

@GangstarComputerGod

19 күн бұрын

I had that issue with squirrels and yes it will drive you insane

@HealthyDisrespectforAuthority

19 күн бұрын

@@GangstarComputerGod my barn cat took care of the attic squirrels around here. He wouldn't be close to a match for a raccoon though.

@stephensmith1118

18 күн бұрын

you need to remove the squirrels they tend to eat electrical cables which can lead to a fire

@jerelull9629

18 күн бұрын

Squirrels are the forgotten rodent, not quite annoying/dangerous enough to be eradicated. Raccoons aren't far behind, as far as I'm concerned.

@ldcraig2006

17 күн бұрын

@@stephensmith1118, we did. We had a windfall tax return about six years ago that allowed up to get them removed, and get the trees they were used to access the roof taken down (the trees were dying anyway, so it was a safety issue as well).

I feed our raccoons every evening on our patio. We've been doing this for almost 6 years. They always bring their babies to meet us in the spring💙

@adamtedder1012

14 күн бұрын

Same here. We have about 30 of em.

@mdnghtwlf

9 күн бұрын

We've been doing it for about a year now. We've got 2 distinct families, and they even get along fairly well with our outdoor cats. The runt of one of litters gets his own bowl by my leg so he doesn't get bullied and if I don't put his food out soon enough he'll come tug on my pants leg.

@billyyank5807

8 күн бұрын

Do ya'll know how toxic raccoon poop is? You should probably look into that,especially if you have pets!

@adamtedder1012

8 күн бұрын

@billyyank5807 not sure about others but most raccoons do not deficate in the places they eat. Our raccoons have never pooped in our yard. They go to the woods in back. Even so we boil water and add some bleach and clean the area ever so often.

@coranova

8 күн бұрын

@@adamtedder1012 same! They only deficate away from our house!

Are Raccoons friendly? -Do not attempt to befriend wild animals. Where can raccoons be found? -pretty much everywhere. Are they as much of a nuisance as American have led me to believe? -No.

I love Raccoons so much. In Akron, where I live, they live in the storm drains and scurry around the streets at night. They also hang out with you if you go camping. Just adorable little buddies.

Racoons are one of the toughest animals in nature. They are also remarkably intelligent and pretty much anything you can think of to keep them out they will figure out and defeat. I had a friend that found a baby one and brought it home. When it grew up, he taught it to open the fridge (her tied a cloth to the door handle that hung down) and get him a beer. The best part was he would sit on the floor and put one front paw on the top of the can and pull up the tab with the other. You had to take the can at this point or end up with a drunken racoon. Amazing animals. Apart from some rare examples though, they generally don't make good pets as they tend to be highly destructive and will reduce your furniture to component parts for their own amusement.

@user-ez6vk2bw7q

19 күн бұрын

The book "Rascal" (on which the Disney movie of the same name was based) is an example of the rare occasion when an orphaned baby raccoon can become a good pet. And your assessment of their natural intelligence is correct. I remember one scene early in the book where the author described how he gave baby Rascal a sugar cube which the raccoon then tried to wash like it was ordinary food only to be perplexed when it dissolved in his tiny "hands". Rascal never repeated that mistake. Smart!

@HealthyDisrespectforAuthority

19 күн бұрын

I wish fire ants were their main diet preference.

@DENVEROUTDOORMAN

18 күн бұрын

No that would be Mountain Lions

@pamelasimone5084

18 күн бұрын

They have long memories and if one feels slighted, he may one day get revenge.

@stevethepocket

17 күн бұрын

@@user-ez6vk2bw7q There's a video that gets reposted all the time where some wiseguy gives a raccoon cotton candy with the same result.

Fun fact. In South America there once existed a now-extinct raccoon species called Chapalmania that was comparable in size and strength to the American black bear. Speaking as someone who has had to deal with bears and raccoons raiding my kitchen, I don't want to even imagine having to deal with bear-sized raccoons.

@saratemp790

20 күн бұрын

Wow.

@PaulGuy

20 күн бұрын

Tbf, black bears are kind of bear-sized raccoons already.

@nerfherder4284

20 күн бұрын

Racoons are actually related to bears, not rodents like rats.

@darter9000

20 күн бұрын

How about a 100 raccoon sized bears instead?

@robwalsh9843

20 күн бұрын

@@darter9000 those are bear cubs, and they're cute, but I've seen the damage they can do, so I'll politely decline.

I once lived in a subdivision of townhomes that had a mini Forest spread throughout it. Raccoons were a huge presence and a huge problem. There were raccoons that were so large they were the size of small German shepherds. For the most part, they ignored people. I remember cleaning off my deck that had some bagged trash on it and a raccoon kept trying to come up and get into the trash. I scared it off twice only to watch it come back a third time and stare at me as if asking for permission to go into the garbage. It became common during the winter to find raccoons hanging out outside of your back door looking to see if you're going to throw anything out.

Had a raccoon who had a missing a paw and had a hole towards the center of her head. My family raised her and gave her a home. She started leaving the house but came back a few times, brought her kids after she was pregnant, and then was gone. A fantastic animal when raised properly.

I love how Laurence occasionally just finds a unique American animal, hyperfixates on it enough to make a video (much to our delight), and then just keeps marveling at the differences between Britain and America until he finds the next fascinating American animal. Please never stop doing this. 😊

My aunt had a racoon, which was small, silvery and pretty, so she'd take it to parties. When they got home, she would find other women's shiny objects in her purse. She eventually gave it to a studio in Hollywood, and it was the raccoon on the Beverly HIllbillies. She had another one, a big male, who liked to get into the toilet and flush it. Instant spa! Once I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to hear our low hanging windchimes ringing like crazy. I looked out the window and saw a racoon banging on the chimes. Then it started dancing to the noise and then made a somersault. Some nights later, I caught four of them doing it.

@stephenbonaci4831

20 күн бұрын

Raccoon Dance Party is my new favorite raccoon story!

@blackbearish

20 күн бұрын

musical trashpandas.

@nathangamble125

20 күн бұрын

"I looked out the window and saw a racoon banging on the chimes. Then it started dancing to the noise and then made a somersault." Are you sure you weren't dreaming? This is one of those stories that is just on the edge of plausibility. Are raccoons actually agile enough to do a somersault?

@katheryns1219

20 күн бұрын

@@nathangamble125 Oh, I was not dreaming at all. I was shocked myself. And yes, they're very agile, and they were obviously having a great time.

@blackbearish

19 күн бұрын

@@nathangamble125 i think they are. they have flexability that is astonishing. also isn't their intellegence meant to be akin to that of a three year old child? something like that.

I'm from the suburbs of Chicago, so I've subscribed because of the accent and that "coyotes, bald eagles and Chicagoans" crack. 🙂 "In Germany today they number exactly 1.5 million, approximately." 6:53 - Loving the Doctor Who T-shirt.

Michigander here and I would say I see raccoons almost daily. I have a bit of a compost pile they like

I've chased raccoons off of a porch far too many times. One decided to get brave once. He stood on his back legs and hissed at me, so I hit him in the head (not too hard) with a broom. Rather than run off, he grabbed the broom and tried to take it from me. He held on tight until I scooted him off the porch and then finally ran off into the night. Stubborn creatures.

@sugarskull2392

21 күн бұрын

😂😂😂

@Nannaof10

21 күн бұрын

😂😂😂

@cloudsn

21 күн бұрын

Omg, once I caught a racoon trying to drag our sealed plastic container of dog food off the back porch and into the woods. So I grabbed a potato and threw it at it. I missed, and the silly thing took the potato and ran away with it.

@dalriadajohannsen

21 күн бұрын

😂

@SplotchTheCatThing

21 күн бұрын

An animal smart enough to be stupid :D

They have opposable thumbs, and they USE THEM.

@LindaC616

21 күн бұрын

😅

@NotSoMuchFrankly

21 күн бұрын

Beware cute hitchikers wearing masks!

@TechnicolorMammoth

21 күн бұрын

That’s what makes them extra scary.

@JohnA...

21 күн бұрын

They actually don't have opposable thumbs, its quite obvious if you've ever been near them and watched them grab onto things. They are dexterous but lack that ability as of yet. Also something that takes only a few seconds to look up instead of spreading nonsense like its fact.

@jladdyost

21 күн бұрын

In our feed mill, we can tell when a raccoon has come in to eat the stray cats' food--the water dish is cloudy from the raccoon having washed his hands in it.

My dad threw a baby racoon in the crib with me and most of my social abilities were provided by that racoon.

I once lived in the wooded coastal hills in Northern California; a location rife with raccoons. Out back of the house we had a hot tub, and I was soaking in it one evening, on the far side facing the steps used to climb into it. Baby and young adolescent raccoons were dashing about the trees above me playing - a very common occurrence and I thought nothing of it. Then a VERY large male climbed up the steps, stood with his head and shoulders above the rim, looked me straight in the eye and calmly washed his hands in the heated tub water. His whole attitude was, "Yeah - this is my wash basin. Whadda ya gonna do about it, punk?!?" I just let him do his thing. With bigger, sharper claws and teeth than most dogs, I certainly wasn't going to complain to him.😋

Occasionally, raccoons used to come into our house through our cat door and eat the cat food. I was awakened from a dead sleep by my wife screaming, only to find it was because she'd gone to the laundry room only to find 5 racoons munching on the cat food. 😂🙄

@grannyweatherwax8005

21 күн бұрын

I may or may not have done the thing from the eyeglasses commercial where I thought my cat wanted in at night and almost let in a raccoon. More than once 😂

@jladdyost

21 күн бұрын

They love cat food.

@pricklypear7516

21 күн бұрын

I get the occasional skunk or raccoon in my sunroom through my cats' door, sometimes with their families. I never have to say more than a quiet, pleasant, "I think you should leave now," and they waddle right out.

@BarbBondVO

20 күн бұрын

The visual in my head is pretty epic. 😆

@MonkeyJedi99

20 күн бұрын

Uh-oh. Your house is on the list with the Raccoon Federation. You're doomed.

I live in southern Ontario, and have grown to be more tolerant of racoons that I once was. There are a couple that live under my neighbours' shed and I don't think I'll bother to tell them. In the past I've encountered racoons when camping -- they knocked my steel, latched cooler on the ground and when I threw a shoe at them they weren't alarmed. When I threw the second shoe and hit one, they wandered off indignantly. Then there was the racoon who had her pups on my fireplace flue. They were kind of cute in a homely sort of way but the pest control person said he had to put them where mom would find them or she would pester me forever looking for them. Then there were the ones that could open my garage door, and then open the garbage cans in the garage and help themselves. An electric garage door opener solved that particular problem. Currently, they don't cause me too much of a problem. Chipmunks dig up my yard, but they are cute. Coyotes howl and wake me up at night but what can you do? Skunks smell bad but only if you threaten them. All in all, I'm OK with the fauna in Ontario. it isn't poisonous and it won't eat you. So what's the problem?

@poochiew.9302

21 күн бұрын

What's the problem? They broke into my friend's attic when I was a kid. They got on our roof and brought fleas to my dogs and in turn my cats. The carry roundworms and are vicious.

@diwi1942

21 күн бұрын

Rabies carriers

@harveywallbanger3123

21 күн бұрын

Raccoons are riddled with diseases, including infectious roundworm eggs in basically 100% of their feces. I used to remediate "raccoon latrines" in people's attics in a biohazard suit. You're risking your life to breathe the dust from their droppings, and they shed ticks all over the place as they wander around. Any omnivorous mammal that does a lot of scavenging is going to be full of parasites and diseases that are dangerous to humans. Even a vulture is less unhealthy to be around than a raccoon.

@tech6hutch

21 күн бұрын

@@poochiew.9302 they burned our crops, poisoned our water supply, and brought a plague upon our houses.

@richardwallace853

21 күн бұрын

The problem is: raccoons are not only not afraid of humans, but seem to hold them in a kind of pitying disdain.

I’m an American, and I love raccoons. They are just about my favorite thing ever. I have been lucky enough to befriend a few of them. Don’t listen to the haters. Because raccoons are amazing.

My little neighborhood, smack in the middle of a city, but surrounded by parks, had a family of raccoons. At night, in the summer, if I take a flashlight up into the trees I see as least 8 sets of glowing eyes from the raccoon family. My dog is also friends with them. My door is glass, so they will often come up to the glass door and “play” with my dog for about 5 min. Waving by at him, peek-a-boo, all sorts of things. We also have a single neighborhood porcupine that hangs out in the trees with the raccoon family.

Raccoons are smart, bold and pushy. I once opened a "critter-proof" trash can lid in a national park only to find a raccoon inside. He immediately clambered out and started trying to get the sandwich I had in my hand. I wound up eating lunch in the car.

Hi Laurence! When I was homeless in Fort Worth, Texas, I camped beside a railroad track, not too far from a creek. I was living in a makeshift tent. At night, whole families of raccoons would come to visit at night. They would rummage through my meager belongings, ostensibly looking for food. One evening I was awakened by a particularly large one standing on my chest. He was licking my nose! I sat up and he retreated. Meanwhile, his compatriots had absconded with my backpack, dragging it down the hill and scattering it's contents. Despite the fact that I rarely had anything for them to eat, they continued to be nightly visitors.

@skaldlouiscyphre2453

18 күн бұрын

I think they were volunteering to help you with dinner.

I saw a raccoon in Central Park in Broad daylight just swaggering along the grass like he was on his lunch break from a midlevel office job.

Im an American that loves raccoons I met a small family of them at my first real job taking out some trash. I know theyre largely considered a pest or roadkill species. But there seems to be a growing appreciation for them and opossums in some weirdo anarcho punk and folk punk spaces as a kind of mascot. Something about the plucky peaceful scavengers struggling to adapt in modern american cities seems to strike a chord with us weirdo eco punks. they've become lauded as beloved bandits and trash pandas

One time, I was staying with my brother in Austin, Texas. He lived about 15-20 min outside downtown Austin in a very tree heavy suburb. One night as I stole outside for a smoke, I happened upon what had to be about 15 raccoons all circling this one absolute UNIT of a trash panda (~30lbs minimum). It was hilariously spooky. Ever seen those ant death spirals? Think that, but raccoons. I unconsciously went “bwah” or some such noise and they all froze, looked right at me, and then scattered like fuzzy roaches, all except the Big One. He never moved a muscle, looking dead at me as if to say “bwah indeed, ya pink ape”. I had my smoke with him and the other raccs had started to creep back as I went inside, still unnerved but feeling like I’d achieved peaceful coexistence.

@NormalPersonCommenting

15 күн бұрын

I imagined that in Hank Hill's voice

I have a lot of experience with raccoons, which I made the mistake of feeding a few years ago. They never forget that!

@LindaC616

21 күн бұрын

😅

@mamalinhager

21 күн бұрын

And bring friends and relative later lol lol lol

@mamalinhager

21 күн бұрын

😂😂😂😂 love your videos. Thank you

@M.E.M.O.10-50

21 күн бұрын

Oh, dear god. Please, people, don't feed the raccoons!

@drew.168

19 күн бұрын

We have a mom that comes to our back door every year with new kiddos

I recently developed a new level of respect for Raccoons after a pair of them chased each other around the trunk of a tree just outside my window late at night, grunting and vocalizing at each other. I've always thought of them as slow, lumbering critters, but imagine two squirrels chasing each other up and down a tree, then imagine two twelve- or fifteen-pound raccoons doing the same thing at the same speed. It was honestly a little bit scary how fast they could move.

Enjoyed this one. Lawrence, you are brilliant. Fast talking - excellent video work - and providing educational content with a bit of amusement.

We had one,named Ricky. A friend brought it to us as a baby, because moma had got hit on road. Our dogs didn't care as long as we told them an animal was a" baby". When got older ,we opened front door little bit daily, so it could go outside . At first, a sneek for a moment, each day a bit longer. It left one day, to not stay inside anymore. But came back to porch each night to rest. Scared people occasionally, but was never mean. We knew it lived on porch, on cold winter nights, we'd leave snacks . Ricky could have gotten in, but never tried. Just knew it was safe on porch. Even the cats& dogs weren't bothered ..❤

When I was in combat weather school, there was a resident raccoon at the dorms who was enormous from all the food the trainees fed him. We lovingly called him Fatass and always left him an uncooked hot dog at the end of the Saturday night BBQ for being so patient with all the food smells all night and hanging out on the edge of the woods just barely visible in the fleeting edges of the gazebo lighting.

@noah4822

19 күн бұрын

you combat... weather?

@johnnychopsocky

17 күн бұрын

​@@noah4822Live through enough storms in Tornado Alley and you'll feel pugilistic towards weather too

@jaredragland4707

16 күн бұрын

​@@noah4822Tornadoes ravaged the Midwest again, just this week, and you ask if the weather has it coming?

Trash pandas are adorable but also wicked smart & mischievous

My husband and I used to live in a rural area of Oregon and we had a large family of raccoons living under our porch. They made noises like a pig getting torn apart by a cougar or something! It was terrifying the first time I heard it(and very annoying every other time, which was most nights). My mom also saw one walking around on its hind legs on the sidewalk past her home, in broad daylight. I think they're adorable, but they can also be extremely weird.

I have a glass sliding door near my kitchen, and one night i got up and was on my way to get a glass of water when i saw both of my cats transfixed by something on the other side of that door. It was an entire family of raccoons, all pressed up against the glass, peering in at us.

@IllustriousCrocoduck

15 күн бұрын

Look kids, check out these humans. Sometimes they escape their pen...

One time standing in my parents kitchen I noticed 2 of them sitting on a tree branch about 12 - 15 away and level with the window. They were calmly sitting there and staring straight into the kitchen. I have no doubt they were blatantly casing the joint.

As a kid I adopted a redbone hound mix. It has tons of small scars on its head. I asked my dad about it ....he said..."raccoon probably did that"... That gave me a huge respect for the ferocity of the average raccoon.

Lots of stories about racoons here and as an individual that has actually lived in multiple national parks (employed) none capture the full capacity of these creatures. They not only can work together to accomplish a task, but can teach each other how to open things, knock stuff over and climb some of the most surprising manmade surfaces of any non-insect I have encountered. If your latch or ketch does not require a key, they will get past it.

I can't wait until you encounter your first opossum 😂

@lasersights

21 күн бұрын

Those bastards are mean

@GodelFishbreath

21 күн бұрын

@@lasersights they kind of have to be to survive the rest of America's ecology. Australia's possums are cute. America's possums are survivors.

@dj-kq4fz

21 күн бұрын

Had a baby one hiss at me while it walked away in to the woods. Pretty funny, cute, and menacing all at once.

@jon420

21 күн бұрын

Not at all. They just smile a lot​@lasersights

@jon420

21 күн бұрын

​@@dj-kq4fzI have one as a pet living in my house. She's housebroken and awesome

My friend Larry had a pet raccoon when we were kids. Larry's uncle Sewell lived with them. One day Sewell, who rode to work with my father, left his lunch pail in my dad's truck and I was tasked with returning it as they lived just down the street. Sewell was sitting in an easy chair with his feet on a hassock. As I was handing the lunch pail to him the raccoon came out from under the couch, stood on its hind legs, grabbed Sewell's big toe in both hands and bit it. Not only was it the most hilarious thing my nine year-old self had seen up to that point, but I learned several choice words that construction workers used...

A pair of raccoons had a disagreement in my shed one night. From the sounds of it, I fully expected to find a body the next morning. They sound like mini jaguars when they're angry.

We used to have a glass door and a family of racoon babies would hang out. We used to sit there and watch them like it was TV

I like raccoons. We’ve been feeding a handicap runt for 6 years now. It can’t use its back legs and is about the size of a cat but comes down every night for food.

We once pulled four baby raccoons out of our family room ceiling. Their mother had entered our house via a roof vent and crawled through our walls until she found what she felt was the best location to give birth and raise her babies. I fed the babies until we found a local wildlife rehab place and could take them there to be raised and released. After that, new raccoon-proof roof vents meant we never had trouble with them again (in the house). Later that summer, though, I was in our bedroom when I heard splashing outside our window on the flat roof of our family room. It turned out to be a set of five, young raccoons playing in water from a recent rain. Pretty cute.🦝❤

@oscardiggs246

20 күн бұрын

It’s remarkable how much damage trash pandas can do when they get in the attic. We had one get in the same way.

we had a porch storage room when I was a kid. It had a cat door, and we kept the cat and dog food in there. We had to put latches on everything to keep the racoons from opening the storage bins. and then lock the latches when they figured out how to open those. And then put in cross bars to keep them from pulling the whole tub away. Anyway one especially fat racoon liked to get in there and eat the cat food anyway, and it was such a chonker it would sometimes get stuck in the cat door. We would come out, turn the light on, and it would run for it! only to get stuck, struggle for a few minutes, and then just sort of shrug and wait for us to go away

The French term for raccoon is _raton laveur,_ which means "washing rat". I used to see them all the time in my back yard in Toronto, both up in the apricot trees in and the vegetable garden, where they were certainly not welcome. One spring night I saw a raccoon mother and four babies crawling along the eaves of the building next door, and they looked at me with not one trace of fear. And just down the street, a pet supply store had a practically tame raccoon that would come and go. It was especially fond of taking red grapes out of your hand and daintily eating them.

On raccoons being a nuisance: my sister once had a family of raccoons take up residence in her attic of the space between floors (don't remember which) and it became so much of an issue that she told everyone. When she moved work locations, her going away cake was in the shape of a giant racoon head.

You have not met me, I am an American who has loved raccoons all my life. There was a nature magazine for children in the 80's called "Ranger Rick" which featured a forestry ranger cartoon character named Rick, who was a raccoon with big Steve Irwin vibes. I grew up in rural places where raccoons were commonly seen as vermin but I found them admirable and adorable for their cleverness, persistence, creativity, and long memories. I had a realistic raccoon plushie instead of a teddy bear.

You’ll likely find Floridians have unique perspectives on raccoons (as anyone could probably expect). We still have plenty of the population that are annoyed by the trash pandas, but they are being outpaced by many other non-native species. My experience with raccoons have been mostly positive and fully adorable. I once saw a raccoon near a campsite sitting upright eating Doritos out of a bag with one hand(paw), just like one might see a human while watching tv.

My family and I were cleaning out my grandmother’s house last weekend, spent a good 15 minutes in her attic before seeing the raccoon hiding up there with us. He seemed a little uncomfortable but he was chill

We live in the forest/woods/bush and have catflaps on the doors. The property is enclosed with fences, so we only get opossums and raccoons for the most part. Over the years, these two species have learned that the flaps lead to food, warmth, and shelter. Because of this, we have also found these creatures happily snoozing on the furniture - beds and couches primarily. It definitely makes for a good bit more cleaning, but they've been "respectful" so far.

Correction: I believe the only state where they are not found is Hawaii, not Alaska. I also used to have many of them in my backyard, but having dog food out there helped a lot. Mothers would bring their kits along, and I'd watch them play. I've never had any issues with them getting into my trash or tearing up my garden. Still, they will tear up lawns and flowers looking for grubs if food is not otherwise readily available... maybe it was the dog food that protected everything else. I had a couple of kits that would take food from my hand. The reason they appear to wash their food has to do with the fact that their most important sense is their sense of touch, and wetting their paws enhances that. When the kits took food from my hand, they also seemed to feel over my hand. Watching them it becomes quite evident that they rely heavily on their sense of touch as they seem to feel about.

@Arkimedus

15 күн бұрын

I did some digging and apparently raccoons are not native to Alaska or Hawaii, though they are now present in both states.

@cmay7429

9 күн бұрын

I'm in Eastern Texas, and we have tons of raccoons. They're actually more native to warmer climates, so more the southern part of our continent, down into South America. I think they're absolutely adorable, and they've never caused any huge issues in my personal experience, but I've also always lived where there were pockets of their natural habitat. I've had them peek in my windows at night, seen them on my neighbor's roof, and had them hang out in my backyard. You can also occasionally see them slipping into neighborhood sewers at night. My grandma used to feed them, along with her outdoor cats, in the evening. They would all share. I've even had them approached me when I called kitty kitty though I have never made it a point to feed them. They can fight with cats and dogs and cause a lot of damage. They're cute, but can indeed be ferocious. My understanding was they don't have salivary glands to help them with chewing, and that's why they dunk their food.

@willausterman3104

7 күн бұрын

They are an invasive species in Hawaii and have established breeding populations. There have been attempts to introduce them in Alaska, but they have all failed with no sightings of wild raccoons in many years.

Two things: you just taught my two year old “raccoon”. She just always thought they were cats and couldn’t be persuaded otherwise. So thank you! Second, I have lived in the Midwest for 34 years and have only seen dead ones or live ones in a zoo. I have, however, seen coyotes a little too close for comfort.

As someone who has lived in Illinois, I've seen raccoons 3 times. 1st time on a train platform (I was a little kid at the time), 2nd time I saw them in a tree (I was a teenager), and the third time (as an adult) at the Bahá'Í Temple (in their gardens) in Wilmette.