@mauve Awww
I had one close encounter with a raccoon, and I couldn't really spend much time with him as I was trying to stop my Husky from getting bit.
Which meant I had to get in between him and the raccoon who was hissing his fuzzy little brain out. Until I got between them and he was like, "wtf, dude, I'm a wild animal and you're gonna turn your back to me?"
But since I got the dog away from him I think he appreciated it.
I don't think that I have proper raccoons in France, but we do get hedgehogs and stuff and I'm trying to make my yard appealing to wildlife.
@roknrol Classic raccoon moment. I managed to coax this one within a meter of me before it decided humans are too much trouble. I love urban animals. I also end up getting waaay to close to skunks for other people's comfort >:)
Hedgehogs seem like a fair trade to be honest. Are they as abundant as squirrels are in NA? My only hedgehog encounter was in Berlin a few years ago. Poor thing had gum stuck to its quills but it was so cute.
@mauve In my part of the world hedgehogs are friggen everywhere! I don't see them as often as squirrels, but I think they're more nocturnal, so that's probably why.
We also get wild boars, but I would not even consider trying to approach one...that would be like approaching a pack of bears. No thanks lol
I really like raccoons though, and if we don't get anything like them over here I'll be a little sad.
@roknrol Wild boars sound legitimately scary 😅 I saw a video of a pack of them running around a city recently. Defs would not approach either (well, probably, they're so cute still).
I'm so jelly of the hedgehog access! I've considered getting one as a pet but apparently they're not very social and smell bad.
Good news is France is apparently having a raccoon problem. Seems you have a good chance of encountering them still!
@mauve 😍