ABOUT DOMESTICATING RACCOONS
The following information was posted in the Usenet group alt.animals.raccoons on 10/1/99 by Rickard S. Toomey, III, Assistant Curator of Geology for the Illinois State Museum. My thanks to Mr. Toomey for allowing me to include this information on my site.


"Davis (1987) provides a good discussion of what is meant by domestication. In particular he says (p. 126):

A domestic animal (or plant for that matter) is one whose breeding is largely controlled by humans. Evolution of a domesticated species therefore results mainly from artificial selection, with natural selection playing only a subsidiary role. The process of domestication implies the separation (partial or complete) of a breeding stock from its wild forebears.

This has extremely significant consequences in terms of raising animals in captivity. Domestic animals have been bred (over thousands of years, possibly 10,000 years in the case of dogs) to have characteristics that make them compatible with people. Some of these characteristics are physical (amount and distribution of meat, size, shape changes, coat characteristics); others involve selecting for "personality" traits that are desirable (docility, tractability, etc.).

Almost without exception, animals that have been successfully domesticated come from wild stock that is very social (usually living in social groups). The herd social structure tends to provide the correct basic characteristics that are selected for for compatibility with people. So, raccoons largely lack the basic personality characteristics to become good domestic animals.

Domestication of various species can be identified in the archaeological record. It can be identified in several ways. First, domestication leads to changes in the physical characteristics of the animals. These changes can be identified in the bones of animals recovered in archaeological sites. Second, they can be identified when a foreign (domestic) species comes into an area where they had not been in a wild form. The size of some animals has tended to change with domestication. This can also be found in the archaeological record. Also, the cultural treatment of a domestic animal is sometimes different than that of a wild animal (burial, bit wear, etc.).

The following animals meet the definition of domestic as presented above:

dog, cat, sheep, goat, cattle, pig, donkey, horse, camel, llama, alpaca, ferret, guinea pig, rabbit (one species), chicken, turkey

A few other species of animals have also been domesticated, but all of the above were domesticated by at least 3000 years ago.

So, there are very significant differences between an animal being a domestic one and a wild one.

These differences have great consequences for the question of whether a raccoon should be kept as a pet and whether keeping one as a pet is comparable to keeping a dog.

1) Domestic animals have been specifically bred for characteristics that make them compatible with people, but the same is not true for raccoons.

2) Most domestic animals started out as social animals; the same is not true for raccoons.

3) Because they have lived in close contact with humans for thousands of years, the care requirements of domestic animals in captivity is very well known. The same is not true for raccoons.

4) Because they have lived in close contact with humans for thousands of years, the risks which the animals pose to their keepers is well known. The same is not true of raccoons.

5) There is a very large infrastructure available to assist people in caring for domestic animals (many well-trained veterinarians, knowledge of dosing, effects, and side effects of medications, etc.). The same is not true for raccoons.

So, in conclusion I would say that the distinction between domestic and wild animals is far from arbitrary and is of great importance in discussing whether it is appropriate to keep raccoons as pets.

Reference cited
Davis, S.J.M., 1987, The Archaeology of Animals, New Haven, CN: Yale University Press. 224pp."

maskd_bandit 10/99