File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
I have four young raccoons living under my deck. I have been leaving food out for them for a while, and tonight I actually hand-fed them. They are not afraid of me at all, unless I make sudden movements. Even then, they run a few feet then come back. They are such cool animals. Anyone else had any experience with these guys?
>> Anonymous
Back when I was a kid living in Jersey, I used to go to the burger king after school with my dad. This one time there was a mother raccoon and 2 babies sitting on a garbage can that we used to plant vegetables in. I asked my dad if I could feed the babies, and he told me it was ok, so I started throwing fries at them and watched them nibble at the ends :3
then my dad asked me if he could feed the mother, but it was obvious he was just throwing the fries directly AT her to scare her off ;_;

they were cute, I wish I could see more raccoons here where I live now (that aren't dead on the road)
>> Anonymous
don't they make terrible, demon screeches at night?
>> Anonymous
>>325920
OP, foxes make the most awful sounds at night during mating season. It sounds like a woman being raped. Blood curdling indeed. These coons are very quiet.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
This past summer I set out a little food and water every night for the raccoons that would sometimes come by. Over the course of weeks they got used to me watching them from the door, and I taught three of them to take food from my hand.

It turned out that those special three were all hungry nursing mothers. Mama (pictured left), named for her big apparent mammaries, was the sweetest coon you'll ever meet. I will always remember her beady little eyes staring right at me asking for food.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>325992

Around mid-June the magic really happened. That's when the kits started accompanying their mother out foraging. Mama, Max, and Gus (the latter two were named before I knew they were female, and the names stuck) would bring their litters by all the time. By the end of the summer, I had some of the babies reaching for marshmallows out of my hand.

Two of Max's shy children pictured.
>> One Star Bandit
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>> Anonymous
The most I've seen of them are in the streets at night and as road kill when I go to school and back.

They're cute, I suppose.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I've had experience with pet raccoons - not so much with feral ones, aside from getting snarled at by a boar that was being harassed by a dog. They're very stubborn and greedy, but that's what makes them charming - very much like children.
>> Anonymous
We get a lot of dogs in the emergency hospital that get torn up by these guys.
A lot of people's cats are killed or mortally wounded.

We have a cat that refuses to come inside so we have to leave food out, and raccoons come and eat all his food and set the dogs barking all night... I can't afford to feed those fat lazy motherfuckers. I'm about ready to shoot them and feed them to my retics.

They also make really lame pets. Like giant aggressive ferrets on steroids.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I have one, he is sleeping and I don't want to wake him by taking a picture, so here is an old one.
>> Anonymous
>>326011

326009 here.. as much as I like them, I do have to agree.. they are pretty aggressive.
>> Anonymous
Skunks tend to be friendlier, and will eat out of your hand no problem if you just sit still for a while. I always bring some dog biscuits for our local skunk when I go for a walk at night.
>> Anonymous
>>326011
>We get a lot of dogs in the emergency hospital that get torn up by these guys.
If it was a coon hunting dog or something then I'm glad their asses were torn up. Their redneck owners should find a better hobby. If it was just a pet then I'm sorry for them.

>A lot of people's cats are killed or mortally wounded.
Overstated. Raccoons don't eat anything larger than birds. There is only one case of raccoons actually hunting cats which was in Olympia, Washington.

Sure they can be mean, but you know the deal: animals aren't capable of malevolence; they're just defensive.
>> Anonymous
>>326018
are you retarded or something? raccoons are the most pain in the ass animals if you raise chickens/turkeys/any kind of bird.

these fuckers will reach in and grab a chicken by the head and chew it off, they are mostly hunted by people who raise chickens for places like Tyson's but many people dont like having to clean up the trash they spread all over the yard, also the people who used to hunt them (notice I said used to, its not done often anymore) would do it for the pelt

so please realize that while they can be cute or funny they are still pest animals that along with foxes and possums they are one of the three most damaging animals to the fowl industry
>> Anonymous
I live in BC canada, and there's this place called prospect point.
It says "do not feed the raccoons"
But there were never any raccoons.
One day, I saw one, and just one. So I throw it a piece of popcorn, and it eats it. It then comes towards me so I throw it a few more. To my suprise, another raccoon comes out from a bush, and joins it in the small feast. Suddenly, I start seein other raccoons... 3... 6... 12... They were everywhere, coming out from behind bushes and behind trees, looking towards me. They weren't kits either... in fact a few of them were mothers with their kits in tow.
Then they began coming around the little fence towards me and my popcorn, and started walking on the sidewalk and parking lot. I promptly shat a brick, got the fuck in my car, and got the hell out of there. I've never been back since.

Don't feed the fucking raccoons.
>> Anonymous
I lived at the beach in Jersey as a kid and they would come and throw trash all over the place. One was enormous. I never saw them for more than a few seconds.
>> Anonymous
>>326020
Oh yeah, I forgot that part. They'll kill any pet you have kept in a cage outside. Yank it out through the bars.

>>326018
No, these are people's pets trying to defend their homes and packs from nasty invading creatures
>> Anonymous
Raccoons are pretty well adapted to survive off of humans
>> Anonymous
>>326020
>raccoons are the most pain in the ass animals if you raise chickens/turkeys/any kind of bird.

That's why I specifically mentioned birds as an animal they hunt, faggot. We were talking about cats and dogs.
>> Anonymous
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99909662@N00/1444141801/
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
this raccoon is unreasonably tame. i would leave food out and when i opened the window to take a picture, he just climbed right into my face.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
moar
>> Cute IbbleBloo
They are adorable but known to raid your trash, and can be "naughty" in the respect of ruining your lawn lol
>> Anonymous
You people are retarded, you should never, ever approach a wild coon. Ever heard of fucking rabies?
>> Anonymous
>>326213
Took the words right out of my mouth. Wtf is wrong with you people? It's a wild animal, not a fucking PET.
>> Anonymous
>>326041
Jesus Christ, it's like something out of a horror film.

Except in the film a couple of raccoons would have hidden in your car and attacked you when you thought you were safe. Either that or they would have somehow followed you home and shown up at your house hungry...For blood.
>> Anonymous
>>326213

That's right. Also, I shouldn't go out at night, becasue there might be muggers. I shouldn't go anywhere near a street because, gosh, I could get hit by a car. As a matter of fact, I probably shouldn't even go outside. I hear that there's some killer air pollution these days!

Get real. While it's not a good idea to ram your hand down a raccoon's mouth, it's not as if rabid racoons are everywhere, just dying to attack you and give you rabies. Coons are good at stealing garbage, but they are not going to attack you. So long as you don't go and touch one, they are not a risk.

Between 1980 an 1997 there were only 22 documented cases of Rabies in humans in the USA. 19 of those 22 were caused by bat bites. That puts the rarity of raccoon-to-human transmission in perspective. Now, how many people do you think got mugged or hit by a car when they went outside?
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>326213
>Ever heard of fucking rabies?

>>326222
>Wtf is wrong with you people? It's a wild animal


>>325992and>>325994here

The raccoon strain of the rabies virus is isolated on the east coast of the U.S. and kept from spreading by gov't control programs. In the very worst places that you see, about 1 in 10 raccoons are rabid. Outside of the infected areas, the virus is nonexistent. The few incidents in Texas are rare cases in which a raccoon was bitten by a rabid skunk, because the skunk strain is rampant there. Even though you often hear that animals can transmit rabies without showing symptoms, the virus is only passed to the animal's saliva after it reaches the brain and causes encephalitis, and the animal is almost always acting fucked up at this point. Rabies is only a concern to your health when you are bitten or scratched, and the worst that you will face at that point is an expensive vaccine.

>>326318
agreed
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>326368

Oklahoma's trying to hide something

AH'LL STOP THEM GODDAM FED'RUL GUMMIT FIDDLIN WI MAH COONS
>> Anonymous
Ahh raccoons.

My dad used to have chickens. Racoons got hold of them, and ate the breast meat, and only that, leaving the carcass behind.

At least they had good taste.
>> Anonymous
>>326368
What about the case in Nebraska?
>> Anonymous
>>326368
There's also the remote possibility of getting infected with Baylisascaris procyonis. Very unlikely, however. According to the CDC, "Fever than 25 cases have been diagnosed and reported in the United States as of 2003." However, five of those 25 died. So yeah, you have a one in 12,218,120 chance of getting infected and a one in 61,090,600 chance of dying from it.

The bacterium is found in raccoon poop and humans get infected by ingesting it. So you could be infected if it steps in its own poop and then sticks its paw in your mouth.

Feeding wild raccoons is bad for them (too many raccoons in one area, diseases spread quicker) and bad for you; you might have an experience like>>326041. I bet those raccoons have his IP by now.
>> Anonymous
We would have a raccoon cross our fence every night at around 9:30 at night back in California. Would we just watch him go by, and then one night, the magic happened. Another Raccoon was crossing the fence in the other direction.

And then they began fucking.

I think it was bad for both of them, because neither one of them came back since that night :'(
>> Anonymous
Christ, you goddamn moron.

Raccoons don't forget, and they don't let go. You are going to be stalked by those little bitches for the rest of your life. If you move, they'll terrorize whoever just moved in. I've seen it happen - my old roommate moved into a house where the previous owner fed the raccoons, and they would scratch at his door in the night, try to crawl in through the windows, destroy his trashcans, and generally wreak havoc.

You've marked yourself out to them. You're royally fucked, kid. There is no saving you now.
>> Anonymous
feeding wild animals is bad and unlawfull, atleast where i live

AND DONT FEED RACCOONS, its one thing to raise a baby becuase they tend to leave when they get older

but wild ones you have to kill to get rid of before they rip into your house if you stop with the handouts
>> Anonymous
>>325992
>>325994

I remember you.

I was the one that asked whether they were daunted by the really bright lights you had (if you can remember).
>> Anonymous
>>326424
Yes, I do remember :)

And for Christ's sake people, I've stopped feeding the raccoons for the fall and the most they've done is drop by, sniff around for 20 seconds and leave, jeesh. My house is made of brick and my chimney is sealed; they can do whatever the fuck they want. It's not the end of the world.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
My mom used to feed raccoons in the backyard...until she got raccoon roundworm (picked it up gardening) and went into a coma.
Raccoon roundworm can blind you, or kill you, and once you've got it, they can only treat the ones in your guts, not the ones that have migrated into your brain.
You do NOT want them shitting in your backyard or on your deck, the eggs live for fucking ever too. Pic related.

Raccoons are cute, but after watching my mom writhe around in her hospital bed convulsing and shitting on herself, I steer clear of feeding them or letting them live near me.

TLDR; Wouldn't recommend feeding raccoons around your house, baby or otherwise.
>> Anonymous
At my mother's old house we had a mother raccoon and her babies living (we think) up in the crawl space above the attic. We started spotting her in the early morning and at night coming down and stealing catfood. We never had any problems as either the cats didn't mind her or they were smart enough to avoid her. She never tried to come in the cat door either. The last time I remember seeing her she'd brought her babies down to steal catfood.
>> Anonymous
My friend's mom did wildlife rehab for almost 20 years, and raccoons were her specialty. Even the wild ones that had only been around humans for a little while were total sweethearts. Yes, they are like ferrets on steroids, but they're still awesome animals. They would sit on the couch and watch tv with her dachshund, they *never* bothered her chickens, and they never hurt anyone, ever. Sometimes she would hear about a raccoon that had bitten someone, and they'd chop off its head and send it to a lab to see if it had rabies, and they never did. Whoops, sorry Mr Dead Raccoon.

I would recommend against feeding wild ones that come around your house, though. Our neighbors fed raccoons on their back porch for several years, and then moved away. The new people who moved in didn't know about the "arrangement", and the raccoons tore the screen door off the hinges, clawed right through the wooden back door and trashed their kitchen.
>> tanel
>>326486
i've been on this board like twice and this is the second time and still i remember this thread :D couple of months ago or so. cool :D
>> Anonymous
>>326018

> Overstated. Raccoons don't eat anything larger than birds. There is only one case of raccoons actually hunting cats which was in Olympia, Washington.

The fuck you talking about? I've seen a GIANT male raccoon rip the face off a cat, fucking awesome, I set food out for that beast for a while, after that. Wish I had a camera at the time. Stupid cat didn't know when to back down. I don't live anywhere near olympia, washington, either.
>> Anonymous
Raccoons are very dangerous when threatened, but generally they don't mess with anyone. They eat rodents, fish, frogs, garbage. They don't just walk around ripping cats' faces off for the hell of it.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
i am a heron, i haev a long neck and beak and pick fish out of water w/ it

if you don't post this in 5 other threads i will come 2 ur kitchen and make a mess of your pots and pans
>> Anonymous
>>326555
I said they don't eat cats because it's a fact. Cats are not a part of their diet. I never said a raccoon could not or would not under any circumstance fight a cat. A million times to one a raccoon will see a cat and walk away. Think for just a second how many cats there are in the U.S. and how many of them live around raccoons? A MAJORITY of homes fit both those criteria. If raccoons were major cat killers you would hear a whoooooole lot more about it. When a raccoon attacks a cat it's because a cat became territorial. Raccoons do not become territorial when they're out foraging because it is not their home land. The cat MIGHT hiss or strike at the raccoon (every cat I have seen near a raccoon didn't care) and then the raccoon MIGHT fight back.
>> Anonymous
>>326567

>every cat I have seen near a raccoon didn't care

That's what happens here. The food I leave out for the transient cats currently staying here, frequently gets raided by a nearby raccoon family. They swoop in, throw the shit and the bowls everywhere, then run off.

If the cats are there, they just sit on the step watching them like "WTF is this? What's going on here?"
>> Anonymous
> If the cats are there, they just sit on the step watching them like "WTF is this? What's going on here?"

No, the cats are sitting there respectfully because they fucking well know if they start shit, the raccoons will kill them. Sort of like a pack of Hyenas waiting for a pride of lions to eventually leave their kill.