365 Urban Species. #086: Raccoon

[urbpan]

photo by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #086: Raccoon Procyon lotor

At my job, taking care of caged animals in a woodland setting, the wild raccoons are my enemy. Early on I realized that I was at war with "raccoon nation," as I termed them. These crafty beasts are armed with intelligent minds and dextrous hands. They can climb any fence and can reach through fencing to grab caged birds. They eat nearly anything, and have a knack for an easy meal. Their ability to open trash cans, and to raid campgrounds, is legendary. Dave Barry has said that if we ever want to get to the planet Venus, we need to convince the raccoons that there's food there, and then follow them.

Raccoons are among the largest of urban mammals, weighing up to 25 pounds. They can survive in large city parks and wooded neighborhoods because they are nocturnal, and spend the daytime sleeping in holes in trees. They can live in almost any environment, but have a strong desire to be near water. Besides trash and pet food, urban raccoons feed on the fruit of landscaping plants, and on various small animals.

I'm hoping that cottonmanifesto will post her story of the raccoons in the Boston neighborhood of Allston.

Comments

rocky

[(Anonymous)]

We have been getting a lot of raccoons around the neighborhood lately. Two nights ago, one crawled under the house and the dog was going crazy following it around the house, in the bathroom, by the floor heater, crying and whining, and then I could hear it trying to tear down the wall in my bedroom. Yikes. My son got a flashlight and looked in the crawl space and could see its eyes shining back. We left the door open to the crawl space for it to come out, which it did eventually. But last night, trash night, we were putting out the trash to the street and there were 6, yes 6 of them in the neighbors back yard! They are cute, but make no mistake, they are vicious if cornered. And don't let the dogs out. Buffy almost tore the screen off the front door trying to get to something, which with all the activity I now know it was rocky!