My cousin had a pet raccoon he found as a baby on the side of the road. its mother had been hit by a truck and so he took it back to his farm where he raised it and kept it in an old chicken coop. took it to the vet for vaccinations and everything. It lived a pretty long life i recall and so long as you were nice to my cousin it was nice to you.

When wed hang out the raccoon would choose someone’s head or shoulder to perch on doing whatever activities we planned. it was certainly a fun and cute animal to have around. Of course being kids we didn’t think of any consequences of taking a wild animal from the wild. Eventually he would stop keeping it in the coop and the raccoon would just stay on the property and instantly come running to you if you’d call its name.

the biggest issue i remember was its aggression towards anyone it perceived being mean to my cousin. It was so protective. My cousins older brother used to beat up on us when we were playing on the farm, but that stops really quick when you see a sprinting ball of fur with grinning teeth charging you from the horizon. It certainly scratched him up good often and bit him a few times. It was funny to us, likely traumatizing to his brother. It would eventually do this to most anyone besides my cousin so when you’d visit he would have to greet you before the raccoon did.

so true is the meme of the forbidden pet. you wish you could have a little companion like a raccoon but its just best to admire from a distance.