Raccooooons!

[olivermoss]

Went photo-walking tonight. Got one pic to post.



It's not a good pic, but it was fun to nab raccoons. I spot raccoons fairly regularly when out photowalking. The raccoons in this town tend to be large, aggressive and have a very unsettling growl. Usually when I see one I keep walking and do not look directly at them. This time, there were enough obstacles and distance that I felt safe trying to get a shot. I got about 4 tries in before one noticed me and made scary sounds.

Maybe they are all bark and no bite, but I am not going to test that.

Comments

[delphi]

Fantastic shot!

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

[prettyarbitrary]

Raccoons are sensible types, generally, and unless they feel genuinely threatened without a ready way out they're more likely to leave than try to fight. But they're also smart enough to realize that most humans aren't interested in a fight either and will leave if you grumble at them.

And when there's no reason to otherwise, why tempt fate?

[olivermoss]

I've seen giant ones whose first instinct is to stand up and snarl at me. I ain't messing with anything making those kinds of sounds.

These ones were on the small side. I've seen ones that are absolute units.

[mistressofmuses]

Raccoons!!! I love the pic, actually. Two of them posing together!

I kind of love the little bastards, though weirdly they are the ONE thing we have ever found that makes our dog go ballistic.

[olivermoss]

I love raccoons. I also steer clear. Google says that raccoons in this area don't have rabies, but ...

Anyway, the same artist who makes some of the street art I shoot has been doing raccoon design in her shop. This, which I love and that quote is such Leverage vibes and also Live, Laugh, Loot ones.

[mistressofmuses]

I do love raccoons! (We had baby raccoons born in our chimney when I was a kid. Had to hire a chimney sweep to get them safely out, but they were the cutest damn things.) They'd also use their grabby little hands to take my mom's birdfeeders down and just roll them around the yard to get the seed out, haha. But definitely no need to get too close and potentially get bit, rabies or no!

Oh, that quote is extremely Leverage vibes. I love it!

[olivermoss]

We had raccoons all around when I lived on the East Coast. Everyone had to build little sheds for their garbage or have a mess. I swear the ones out here get to be three times as big.

They are great, but most of the time I spot them I just keep walking

[mistressofmuses]

I have seen some MASSIVE raccoons a few times - I never can quite tell if they're just bigger than I seem to think they are, or if I have seen some exceptionally large ones!

A wise decision!