Cartoons are misleading. In cartoons raccoons are cute, and sweet. Now, I know that image can’t be too reflective of real life because those cute, sweet raccoons usually wore clothing. Real raccoons are not cute, are not sweet, are naked…. and are HUGE! I had a classmate who had a raccoon phobia. I laughed at him… now I take it back.
I pulled into my apartment after work a night ago. It’s nice and dark and my headlights shine on something strolling across the grass in front of the bushes. I think: Oh, someone’s dog is out. Beady little eyes catch the light and my own eyes widen. It’s a German Shepard-sized raccoon.
I sit in the car, hoping it will go away. Instead, it strolls over to the stairs–the stairs I need to take to get to my apartment. I wait a little longer, then get my stuff out of the car. I peep to see if the racoon is still there, and see that he’s ducked into the bushes… right by the stairs. I creep toward the stairs, stop, eye the raccoon, count to three, and break into a run.
**Shudder**
Anyone else here born in the 80’s? You guys remember the Care Bear Cousins? One of my favorite Cousins was Bright Heart Raccoon.
Not A Raccoon
A Raccoon
**Shaking my head**
E. Ardell 
We’ve got a TON of raccoons here up north. I’ve seen some that are as big as a football and some as big as a toddler. They’re AWFUL and eat my pets (which is why we only have our dog left…all the cats are gone). I don’t know how temperamental your raccoons are, but give them a good hiss or something and they’ll usually leave. Kind of like big loners who like to stir up trouble. Good luck with those ugly boogers…
Wow, cat-eating raccoons. That’s scary. My co-worker has 5 raccoons living in her attic. During the day they swim in her pool. She paid a lot of money to have them removed but they keep coming back. She found out a little while ago that one of her wonderful neighbors is feeding them.
That is AWFUL! Yeah, 100% surefire way to keep those frustrating critters around is to feed them 😛