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Katie M. writes: “I would love to know more about the habits of urban-dwelling raccoons! I spotted one last week in my backyard as I ate dinner outside, and I was spooked because I wasn’t sure how it would react around my food. Can you tell me a bit more about how raccoons interact with the human world?”
Raccoons are one of the cutest critters around. They are also shy and tend to stay away from people – even if they have food. If you give a raccoon space (at least 10 feet), it should leave your yard on its own. Do not corner or chase one. And do not feed it, as it may begin to expect food or become habituated to people.
Raccoons are omnivores, so they eat anything and everything they can find – from insects to berries to eggs to mice to crustaceans. They will also raid garbage cans, dumpsters or your vegetable garden, usually at night. They might climb a tree to eat your apples, peaches or plums.
This time of year, female raccoons often have two to five youngsters (called kits or cubs) nearby. Because males are aggressive to young raccoons, females do not tolerate male presence after mating. For the first two months, the kits stay in a den (often a hollow in an oak tree) while the mother forages for food – usually at night, sometimes during the day. Once the youngsters are a couple of months old, the kits accompany Mom on her travels, where they emulate her and learn how to forage for food. In our area, the kits often stay with their mother throughout the winter. In the spring, the family group disbands, and the kids find their own territories.
Although raccoons are not typically aggressive, you probably do not want to encourage them to stay around. Rabies first appeared in Massachusetts raccoons in 1992, and today raccoons are the primary carrier of this disease. Unlike dogs or other rabid canines, rabid raccoons can sometimes appear friendly and may even approach you. (At other times rabid raccoons are aggressive or lethargic.) Rabid raccoon saliva can transmit the disease through a bite or even a scratch.
Beside rabies, raccoons can carry canine or feline distemper. These viruses do not harm people, but they are dangerous to cats or dogs that are not vaccinated.
Forty percent to 60 percent of raccoons in the Northeast carry roundworms, which do not harm raccoons but can harm people (although infection is rare; dogs are more likely than people to become infected). This parasite lives in the intestines, and microscopic roundworm eggs in raccoon feces can be transmitted through contaminated soil – where the infectious eggs can live for years – and sandboxes, water or dirty objects. Sometimes raccoons use sandboxes as latrines, so you should keep them covered. (Covering sandboxes keeps other critters out of the sand, as well.)
Raccoons are often called trash pandas, and there is a good reason for this moniker: Raccoons like to forage where it is easiest to find food. In cities this is often in trash barrels, dumpsters or gardens. If raccoons are raiding your trash barrels at night, try using bungee cords to secure the lids. If they invade your garden, put a fence around it. Mass Audubon has good instructions on how to construct such a fence.
Raccoons are adaptable and have become fixtures in urban areas, but this was not always the case. Witnesses reported the first city raccoon in Cincinnati in the 1920s. Since then, they have spread to urban areas throughout North America. Raccoon populations in the 1980s were 20 times greater than in the 1930s, when raccoon populations were at their lowest. Raccoon populations increased due to the growth of cities, the spread of agriculture and the near extermination of coyotes and wolves.
Scientists believe that before Europeans arrived in North America, raccoons lived along waterways, rivers and nearby woodlands. In the 1520s, Spanish explorers in what is now Georgia and South Carolina observed foxlike animals that were muy pintada, or “very painted.” Their report is the first known European sighting of raccoons in North America.
In 1700, John Lawson of North Carolina described the raccoon this way:
The Raccoon is of a dark-gray Colour; if taken young, is easily made tame, but is the drunkenest Creature living, if he can get any Liquor that is sweet and strong.
When wild, they are very subtle in catching their Prey. Those that live in the Salt-Water, feed much on Oysters. They watch the Oyster when it opens, and nimbly put in their Paw, and pluck out the Fish. . . . The way that this Animal catches Crabs is worthy of Remark. When he intends to make a Prey of these Fish, he goes to a Marsh, where standing on the Land, he lets his Tail hang in the Water. This the Crab takes for a Bait, and fastens his Claws therein, which as soon as the Raccoon perceives, he, of a sudden, springs forward, a considerable way, on the Land, and brings the Crab along with him. As soon as the Fish finds himself out of his Element, he presently lets go his hold; and then the Raccoon encounters him, by getting him cross-wise in his Mouth, and devours him.
Although wild raccoons are cute and common in our urban areas, it is best to leave them alone. They aren’t known for attacking people, but if they feel threatened or cornered, they will defend themselves.
Reader photo
Marcela Millan spotted this coyote on Highland Street in Cambridge in early June.
Have you taken photos of our urban wild things? Send your images to Cambridge Day, and we may use them as part of a future feature. Include the photographer’s name and the general location where the photo was taken.
Jeanine Farley is an educational writer who has lived in the Boston area for more than 30 years. She enjoys taking photos of our urban wild things.
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