Raccoons, see lots of em since i moved to vancouver. Man if i only had my camera last night. Was driving home from work(3am) through downtown. Stopped at a red light, me and one other car and this raccoon is walking into the middle of the intersection randomly charging at our cars with his back arched, chirping madly. He sure sounded pissed about something, thats vancouver night life for ya, haha. Reminds me of another time walking through stanley park in the rain, heard this hissing noise from behind. One came out of the bushes 6 ft away charging at me, hissing and growling. Good thing I had my umbrella, cute little guys but don't get on their bad side.
seems to be a dearth of raccoons and skunks this year around these parts. abundace of fox, turkey, deer and hawks tho,
When my first ex-wife's parents moved to Tennessee from NY... they adopted a raccoon from a family that was the sole survivor from a car strike... and named it Rackets. He was the reason they had to put a padlock on the refrigerator... Rackets loved bacon... and he knew commands... and when there wasn't food involved or nearby, he would do as he was told like a good pet... and he never went pottie in the house... he and I were good friends because from day one of me being introduced, I gave him a snack and told him - good boy. Rackets beat the crap out of the neighbor's dogs... as did the Siamese that was his buddy in the house... in fact, they were often a team when it came to getting what they wanted.
One caution about wild animals . . . not just raccoons. One organ transplant patient died from rabies traced to one donor who had a couple of raccoon bites. As much as we can like and love wild animals, never forget that rabies is a real risk. Sorry, I just noticed the earlier posting about the rabies risk. Bob Wilson