I've been seeing more raccoons around lately. (Seattle is about an hour north of Olympia.) My neighbors on either side of me used to have dogs, but one dog died of old age and the other neighbors moved away, so the raccoons have been coming around more.
I haven't seen them be aggressive, but we had raccoons on the east coast when I was growing up and some of them were definitely rabid, so I'm careful of them. I already keep my cat indoors, what with the dogs, feral cats, hawks, and coyotes (known cat killers) that we have around here.
The degree of aggression is a little odd, but the fact of aggression is not. Raccoons are very persnickety creatures and easily annoyed. I like them but I get irritated with people who feed them because it encourages them to keep coming around. (Those people who commented on the raccoons wearing a path—most animals do this, there's a game trail right through my backyard that's mostly used by cats. The fact that people are seeing animals use it, though, is a sign that the raccoons are losing their skittishness around people. In fact, this may entirely explain the phenomenon: I've seen or heard examples of the same thing with deer, bears, and squirrels.)
All over the place. Really. I've got a dozen photo communities on my friends list, a dozen more and photo sites that I've got bookmarked because they're sometimes not work-safe, and a pile of friends who know I collect the weird shit and send it to me.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 04:54 pm (UTC)I haven't seen them be aggressive, but we had raccoons on the east coast when I was growing up and some of them were definitely rabid, so I'm careful of them. I already keep my cat indoors, what with the dogs, feral cats, hawks, and coyotes (known cat killers) that we have around here.
The degree of aggression is a little odd, but the fact of aggression is not. Raccoons are very persnickety creatures and easily annoyed. I like them but I get irritated with people who feed them because it encourages them to keep coming around. (Those people who commented on the raccoons wearing a path—most animals do this, there's a game trail right through my backyard that's mostly used by cats. The fact that people are seeing animals use it, though, is a sign that the raccoons are losing their skittishness around people. In fact, this may entirely explain the phenomenon: I've seen or heard examples of the same thing with deer, bears, and squirrels.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 05:14 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 05:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 05:51 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 06:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-22 08:26 pm (UTC)FUCK raccoons. Fuck them in their wicked little disease-ridden asses.