Raccoons are an established part of suburban wildlife. They can live in a sewer drain, have no natural predators and get nightly handouts via outdoor pet food bowls and bird feeders.

I get many questions about these little masked bandits, including ones about keeping a raccoon as a pet, which is illegal in most states. A retelling of a pet raccoon story (when it was legal) may be instructive.

We found an abandoned baby raccoon in a hollow tree, brought it home and fed it enriched milk from a doll's bottle for about a week.

Teaching our big dog, Nero, that the baby raccoon was not a meal seemed important. Fortunately, Nero merely found the visitor entertaining.

The raccoon began eating cereal and baby food, and tottering around the house. We soon decided he should stay in the backyard,

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