Bandits in the Park: Vancouver’s Raccoons
By Charlie • October 1, 2007 • 8 commentsRaccoons may not be of much interest to many North Americans (whose usual view is of an unwelcome furry tail scurrying away from an upturned garbage bin), but speaking as a Brit who only comes across them every so often I have to admit to being fascinated by these ring-tailed, bandit-masked, dextrous mammals. The only place I see Raccoons regularly is Vancouver’s Stanley Park where a population make a very good living going from one human vending-machine to the next, stuffing themselves with grain before strolling off into the brambles to snooze or down to Lost Lagoon to wash (a habit that gave rise to the Linnaeus derived “washer bear” as Raccoons were sometimes known). Pretty much unafraid of either locals or gawping tourists, Stanley Park’s Raccoons must be some of the easiest to photograph anywhere and the images below were taken on two different visits: yesterday, when the sky was a blanket of sullen cloud with far too few holes in it to allow much more than a hint of sunlight through, and in May 2006 when conditions were a little more favourable…
All photographs copyright Charlie Moores
For a fascinating list of descriptive Native American names for the Raccoon go to www.loomcom.com
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They look delightful. I haven’t seen one yet in my all too infrequent trips to the U.S.
I guess they behave in much the same way as the urban possums in Australia, which make a living from raiding gardens for fruit and flowers.(And clog dance on the roof in triumph at 2 a.m.!)
@Snail: They do more raiding of garbage cans and dumpsters than fruit and flowers, but, yeah, they manage to do okay in populated areas.
Beautiful pictures, Charlie. Nice to see them through the eyes of someone who hasn’t had to clean up their messes!
They are quite amazing creatures! Those tiny paws are amazing dexterous. And, they are very dedicated to getting what they want. Stopping them once they’ve made the habit of getting into your trash is difficult.
Thanks for the compliment on the photos - much appreciated. I guess ‘our’ equivalent to raccoons and possums would be urban foxes. When I was a restaurant manager in Bath years ago I often saw them pulling apart garbage bags late at night when I was locking up. I used to love seeing something so wild coping with the mess we leave behind us - but I don’t suppose every Bath resident would have agreed with me!
We had a mama raccoon and 5 kits eating the seed I put out for the birds on our picnic table. They ate in a tight little bunch occasionally peeking over each other’s shoulder’s to look at me.
We don’t keep our trash cans outside. We, too, have fallen victim.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, eh? I think these guys are pretty neat, but they are pretty much a nuisance around here. We had to trap four or five of them at the beginning of this year because they were in the yard every night. They aren’t that great to have hanging around when you have pets (dogs or cats), because they can often carry disease and are notoriously nasty when it comes to fighting (I wouldn’t bet against a raccoon against just about any dog). And, of course, your pets often feel the need to protect their territory. So what do they do when they see a raccoon in the yard at night? Go crazy and try to get outside to fight! Thus, for the protection of our pets (and for the sanity of the humans trying to get some sleep), we usually trap the ‘coons and release them in the countryside (I actually have a picture of one of these releases on my blog on the left side bar under “raccoon”).
Oh, and if you live in a wooded area - good luck keeping your garbage cans out at night! Think of how sly a squirrel can be when it wants to get at your birdseed…Then multiply that by 10 and you’ve got a raccoon!
Amazing creatures, but what a pain in the arse!
Awww, such a cute Raccoon!
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