Procyon lotor

[mollyringle]

What can make you creep out of the house in your nightgown and slippers, with a baby in one arm and a camera in the other hand, at 8 a.m.? Wildlife photo ops in the city of Seattle, naturally!



Sure, they're filthy scavengers, but I've always liked raccoons. They're clever and bold and cute, and social too. There were at least two this morning, trotting around our yard and deck together, chittering to each other.

Incidentally, Steve once overheard his coworkers discussing pet doors, the type you cut into your house doors to let cats and dogs in or out. One of the people cut in, with annoyance, "Might as well call it a raccoon door." What's great about that line is that you don't even have to ask, "So, what happened?" Hee.

Someday, remind me to tell you about the time a possum got in my bedroom. No, I'm not kidding.

Comments

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Raccoons = adorable eevil. Ever read Frosty, a Raccoon to Remember by Harriet E. Weaver? Fun book, my mom read it to me when I was a teen...makes you wanna just pick the little darlings up and squoosh them.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Haven't read that one, but sounds like I should keep it in mind for the kid in future. The raccoons truly are cute things...but I'd want them declawed and muzzled before I picked them up!

[deliciouspear.livejournal.com]

Well they aren't REALLY "filthy." *grin*

My mom had a momma and four babies walk right through her front door, across the living room - bold as you please, and walk out onto the back porch to eat the grapes out there.

She took pictures. She's pretty sure they posed for them.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Heh! I bet they did pose. They may just be the cheekiest animals on the planet. With opposable thumbs, or something very close to it, which makes them dangerous.

[starfish82.livejournal.com]

A raccoon mauled my dog once, but I still think they're "teh cute." ^_^

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Well, they do have pointy sharp parts, no question about that. But animals can be cute and dangerous at the same time. :)

[bookgirl2632.livejournal.com]

Aww! He's so cute! I've always loved raccoons as well. Little bandits!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I know--got to love the Zorro-mask face markings.

Wonderful picture!

[chris-sapyta.livejournal.com]

Do be careful with the bebeh though as raccoons carry rabies.

Re: Wonderful picture!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kept my distance. Cute they may be, but they bite and scratch and stuff. Domestic fluffy things they are not!

[elycia.livejournal.com]

FORGET dog doors. A coworker of mine came to work one day with pictures of a raccoon that had jimmied the handle on their screen door, come inside, opened the kitchen cabinet, and proceeded to gorge itself on cat food, despite the slack-jawed humans staring and pointing from the doorway.

They are *way* too smart for their evolutionary station in life.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Hah! Yes, actually, I've heard similar stories of daring raccoon ingenuity. They have that whole casual attitude down pat--"Hiya; I'm just seeing what you've got to eat. I'm fine; don't get up." Besides that, they have HANDS! They cannot be stopped!

[shebit.livejournal.com]

Ok, that photo is just too damn cute. I want raccoons in my garden. Unfortunately, in Sussex, that's unlikely to happen.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I've heard they were introduced to some of Asia and Europe; and I have no doubt they are doing just fine there, little innovators that they are. Not the UK, though, I gather? Tell you what--I'll trade you for some foxes. Those are cute too, and we hardly ever see them. :)

[shebit.livejournal.com]

True, we do get foxes, and the cubs are utterly adorable. My parents used to have a fox den at the bottom of their garden and would sometimes get a litter of cubs playing on their lawn. There's just something about raccoons, though, with their little bandits' masks, which makes them utterly captivating.