Quick question…
How dangerous are raccoons? To humans and to small pets?
Depends.
In my experience when I lived in the mid west, most of the time they’re more dangerous to trash bags than anything. If they feel threatened, they can and will tear up a small dog or a cat, possibly kill it.
But they also are, from my experience, very smart, and sometimes, even friendly animals. I’ve seen a few cases of success of trapping and training a wild one.
My suggestion: If you have coons, keep small pets inside at night. They’ll fight large pets if they need to, and they can be VERY formidable opponents. Also, if you can handle it, keep your trash in a place where they have a harder time getting to, such as a garage. If you go outside and see one, they’ll most likely run away, as you are several times bigger, and they don’t want to pick a fight with something much larger than them.
They really are neat animals if you ever have the pleasure of meeting a domesticated one. But, I would basically stay away and keep pets away too to avoid vet bills. And if you take a few minor precautions, unless you live around a heavily wooded area, most likely they won’t be a problem.
Quick answer:
It depends. 
What do you mean by dangerous?
In general, racoons wouldn’t be considered dangerous to humans or small pets in a predatory way (rabies or other diseases are another matter). I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a racoon attacking a human without provocation, or attacking a house pet for food… not that a 'coon couldn’t if it wanted to, just that I don’t think they normally would behave this way.
However, racoons are tough little bastiges (I had a pet racoon when I was in high school, so I speak from first hand experience). If one were cornered, he could do some damage to a dog or even an unarmed human.
So, if the subtext to your question is something like “We just moved into a new house and there are racoons living in the tree outside the back door… will they carry off my dog and/or my children?” My answer would be no. But remember that they are wild animals; don’t try to pet them, don’t corner them and leave them no choice but to fight, be especially careful of any racoon that seems to approach you with no fear (read rabid), etc.
I hope that helps! I love racoons…
Hmmm… I’m inclined to agree with anyone named Filthy Beast of Meat and Hair on this topic! 
I have a couple of racoons who enjoy tearing up my lawn seeking grubworms. Man, oh man, these guys are bold! I went out to chase them away and they just looked at me like I was a minor annoyance. I finally shooed them away with the broom, but they keep coming back.
I read in a gardening book that if you make a concoction of ground red pepper, black pepper, and mustard powder and sprinkle it around the area it will keep them away. You do want to get rid of them, don’t you?
Crap…now I feel really bad.
Astroboy: Did you make that word up? I like it!
Uh-oh! You didn’t kill him did you? :eek:
I did but under somewhat reasonable circumstances. I come down to my basement stairwell, find my cat there with a raccoon 5 feet from him(too close for comfort for a likely wild animal twice his size, possibly with rabies) and run to grab a gun. I come back and he’s still there and I shoot him.
Add to that my mom had a really bad experience with one and thus I’m not particulary trusting. Also this is the first time I’ve ever seen not in a cage or something.
I acted and I may have made a bad desicion, but I don’t regret my course of action. Next time(if there is one) I’ll probably act differently. It’s the first(and hopefully only time) I have ever killed a mammel by my own hand.
Hey, you did what you had to do. It’s over. Forget it. What you need to do now is prevent it from happening again. See if you can discover how he got in and block the entry.
BTW- should there be any more of them in the basement, just call your local animal control. They’ll probably send someone over to remove the critter.
My mother has fed raccons, possums, and even the occasional skunk in her semi-rural backyard for decades, along with the assorted stray neighborhood cats. She has also owned and fostered many cats herself. Not once has there ever been any kind of incident. Everyonce in a while one of the raccoons will stick their head through the cat door and stare and the various humans gaping at them. It’s not uncommon to see one of them taking a dip in the pool, either.
The only danger raccoons present are to the spark plug wires on your car. For some reason they find them to be quite tasty.
Racoons are interesting animals. Personally myself, I love them.
Considering they ARE wild you don’t want to try to hug them, or kiss them.
My old house had a family of racoons that walked through our yard every few nights when they made their rounds. They often came up on our porch and looked in the glass on the front door. One night my cat was on the railing next to the door when the racoons came. My cat is pretty mellow and he just sat there and watched them. The racoons came up, peaked in the window, sniffed around for food, stopped and stared at my cat, sniffed a bit more and left.
My neighbours dog (a boxer) cornered one once. The dog let out a few good yelps during the fight and at the end no one won. The racoon managed to skirt under the house and we got the dog before he went after it. But the racoon didn’t hesitate to defend itself against a dog more then twice it’s size.
We had a problem with racoons getting into our fish pond years before and I thought it was just one. We got a live trap from fish/wildlife dept and caught him. I spent a few hours sitting by the cage just checking him out while I waited for my friend and his van to arrive.
We had to move him to the end of the trap to open it so we used some 1 inch wood furring to block his way to the front of the cage. He had no problem chewing through it in no time. He also made some pretty scary noises I didn’t know racoons could make. A evil little growl sound.
We moved him to a large park about 20 miles away. He was back in a few weeks (I knew it was him because he was missing part of his ear)
“Fargin’ bastages” a racoon hissed at me once…once.
-
-
- Raccoons don’t move fast–they are much slower than cats, for instance, when it comes to covering ground. They will fight if cornered however, so don’t play with the wildlife. Also something to keep in mind is that they instinctively try to go anywhere dark–so for instance, if you can corner them in an area, you wait until daylight or illuminate the area somehow and provide one dark box or (empty) trash-can for them to go into, they will go inside on their own given a few idle moments. Unless they have distemper or rabies, that is–sick raccoons are the only ones that will wander around in the daytime. That’s not any sort of scientific guarantee, it’s just what I’ve seen over 25-odd years.
~
- Raccoons don’t move fast–they are much slower than cats, for instance, when it comes to covering ground. They will fight if cornered however, so don’t play with the wildlife. Also something to keep in mind is that they instinctively try to go anywhere dark–so for instance, if you can corner them in an area, you wait until daylight or illuminate the area somehow and provide one dark box or (empty) trash-can for them to go into, they will go inside on their own given a few idle moments. Unless they have distemper or rabies, that is–sick raccoons are the only ones that will wander around in the daytime. That’s not any sort of scientific guarantee, it’s just what I’ve seen over 25-odd years.
-
I fostered orphaned, baby coons who were on their way to a wildlife rehab center. Adult coons become very aggrressive and they are remarkably strong animals.
When threatened they will growl and make a really weird sound… oh, I just called it “dragon noises.” And they can shriek. Oh, and I mean shriek so it sounds like a woman being attacked! Their defensive posture is arched back with chin really low, almost on the ground.
Astroby wasn’t kidding when he said their tough critters. I would not want to have a cornered adult in my basement. As I said, they are really strong and can do a surprising amount of damage.
They don’t like fighting though and if given the opportunity will run away.
If you find another in your basement, shoo away your cat (they’d probably just have stood there staring at each other in amazment), open the window and give the coon plenty of opportunity to bail. I sniff of outdoor air and the coon will figure the way out pretty quickly.
I’d like to reinforce the “fierce when cornered” part. I know some guys who hunt raccoons with coon dogs (tall, lanky hounds about the size of a Labrador Retriever.) One of the hazards of 'coon hunting is losing a dog to a cornered raccoon. The hunters say if a raccoon can get a dog to follow into water, it’s curtains for the dog.
Go to your local video store and rent/buy Johnny Dangerously; all shall become clear.
This page from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rabies/Epidemiology/Epidemiology.htm has information about reported rabies cases in the U.S. in 2001.
One thing that I find interesting is that when you look at this chart showing the distribution of rabies in raccoons, the cases seem to be concentrated almost exclusively in the states along the East Coast.
Well if your small pet is a duck, I’d say raccoons are very dangerous. They have sharp, strong claws and they can be vicious. I would put money on them over anything smaller than a 60 lb dog.
They do prefer to avoid confrontation though.
Raccoons can and do kill cats.
Be aware of this.
But it usually only happens when food is scarce, as in droughts.