Raccoons don’t have the best reputation. These animals are seen as masked bandits, a nuisance that rummages through trash, makes a mess, and has rabies.

You’ll want to keep raccoons away from your house and especially away from your garbage. So what are raccoons good for? A variety of things it seems and this article looks into it.

Raccoons exist to maintain populations of vegetation and certain animals. They eat plants and animals and this prevents these plants and animals from overpopulating spaces.

What are raccoons good for?

Good for vegetation population maintenance:

In the wild, raccoon diets consist of mostly plants. They help to maintain certain plant populations by feeding on plants. This prevents these plants from overpopulating an area.

Raccoons are also helpful because they feed on weeds. Weeds are known to compete for nutrients and water in the soil leaving nothing for other plants.

When the raccoons eat weeds, the competition for water and nutrients decreases giving regular plants the opportunity to access water and nutrients from the earth.

This article explores what raccoons eat.

Good for animal population maintenance:

Raccoons eat a number of insects and other invertebrates. In the wild, this is beneficial as they help to keep the insect population down thus preventing the overpopulation of habitats.

Because these animals only feed on as much food as they need to, insect populations are not wiped out as a result of overfeeding.

They act as food for large predators:

Raccoons may help to maintain plant populations as well as the populations of other animals, but their population needs to be maintained well. Thus, raccoons serve as food for large predator species such as bobcats, coyotes, great horned owls, cougars, alligators, wolves, and foxes.

Areas where raccoons live without raccoon predators are usually overrun by raccoons.

Pets:

Some people keep raccoons as pets, this is not legal in every state but that does not stop people from having raccoons as pets. Because of their cute appearance and sweet nature, it is easy to see why raccoons are sometimes taken as pets.

They can be raised to be great companions if you start them off at birth. If you find a young raccoon you should be aware that there is a chance that it is sick or has rabies. Here are signs that the baby has rabies. Here are some sicknesses that raccoons can have

Are raccoons good pets? 

Raccoons aren’t commonly taken as pets. There may be a couple of pros as to why someone would want a raccoon as a pet, but there are also cons to having these animals, as pets as well:

Pros of owning a pet raccoons:

They can be cute: Some people don’t like raccoons but others love these little animals, they are small and fluffy and look like a puppy or a large ferret. It’s easy to see why some people appreciate this. 

They are affectionate: If you take care of a raccoon the animal can be very affectionate towards you. Many people want pets that are affectionate, many will appreciate this part of the raccoon’s personality. 

Playful: If you like to play and have fun with pets, raccoons will be a great fit for you, they are very playful with the humans that they like. 

Cons of owning a pet raccoon: 

Unpredictability: You may take a raccoon as a pet but these animals are still wild animals, their behavior can change from the loving animal you know to more wild very quickly. 

They are high maintenance: Pets, in general, are quite high maintenance but raccoons need more maintenance than other pets do. Raccoons can develop a number of health issues that are difficult to manage, in addition, their dietary needs that are unlike other animals 

They can damage property: Raccoons are naturally quite mischievous, these animals don’t mean any harm but they are simply very curious in nature. This can manifest in them damaging your property and belongings. 

They can cut you: Raccoons have claws that are pretty sharp, these claws are sharp enough to dig into tree bark. These animals can cut into human skin like paper. A raccoon can cut you on accident if you’re playing with it 

Are raccoons aggressive to humans?

No, raccoons are not generally aggressive to humans. Raccoons may look somewhat dangerous and predatory because of their long claws and their strong jaws but generally, these animals will not attack humans.

Because they are so low on the food chain, healthy raccoons generally won’t interact or attack any other animal including humans. If they see a human they will most likely flee the scene. The animal will be more afraid of you than you of it.

They will only become aggressive to humans if you corner them, make them feel frightened, if it’s a raccoon mother and she is trying to protect her litter from you or if the raccoon has rabies. But other than that raccoons will not attack humans

This article explores the topic in more detail

This article explores what to do if you see a raccoon

How do I get rid of raccoons?

Noise: Raccoons don’t like loud obnoxious noises. If you want to get them out of their dens, crawl spaces, or your attic simply place a radio in the area and play loud music until they leave.

Motion-activated sprinklers: If you have raccoons out in the garden you can use motion-activated sprinklers to get them off of your property. The sprinklers will scare them and force them to leave your property.

Predator urine: Raccoons know their place on the food chain. They will leave if they sense that a predator is in the area. You can find predator urine at sporting goods stores and use it around your home to get raccoons to leave.

Large dog: Dogs the size of raccoons may not be enough to get rid of raccoons but if you have a large dog then it can scare the raccoon away. Read more about raccoons being afraid of dogs here