Over the years, Canadians have adopted raccoons as their unofficial yet beloved street pets for their hilarious antics, unabashed personalities and raging cuteness. In fact, an article in NPR went so far as to call Toronto the “raccoon capital of the world” for the high number of trash pandas that live in the city, referencing the $31 million the City of Toronto spent on special bins to keep the creatures out of the garbage in 2016.
While Torontonians definitely have a love/hate relationship with raccoons worthy of a sitcom, in recent years, we’ve seen a flurry of raccoon videos that have gone viral for the cute, funny and often bizarre things these creatures do, which makes it hard to deny the love end of the stick just might be winning out.
These 10 viral raccoon videos are bound to make you laugh
As an ode to the love affair Torontonians and Canadians at large have for these furry grey bandits, these viral raccoon videos are sure to brighten your mood.
1. Mobbed by raccoons
In this video, James Blackwood, AKA “the Raccoon Whisperer” of Nova Scotia, feeds carrots to a mob of 25 hungry trash pandas that were waiting for him on the porch outside his door. The raccoons happily chomp away on their snacks while Blackwood chats with them, complimenting their tails and greeting them like old friends.
2. Crafty raccoon guards his pile of snacks
This video shows two raccoons in Abbotsford, British Columbia, at Elizabeth’s Wildlife Center using their tiny paws to eat apples. Watching animals do things humans do just never stops being adorable, and this video epitomizes that specific brand of cuteness.
3. When a pet raccoon left at home unattended
In this video with 3.3 million views, a man leaves his pet raccoon (now that’s some real #RacoonLove) unattended for an hour. Tito gets up to all kinds of antics, including checking himself out in the bathroom mirror and playing parkour on the furniture.
4. Eleven raccoons stuck inside porch
At the end of 2019, Gates Wildlife Control of Scarborough answered a call about 11 raccoons being stuck inside a porch after wandering in while the door was left open overnight. While 11 normal-sized raccoons being stuck in a porch would have been cute, these raccoons were a little pleasantly plump and reluctant to leave the cozy porch, which somehow makes this video even more adorable.
5. Woman wakes up to find a raccoon in Christmas tree
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In this very on-brand video for raccoons, a woman in Florida wakes up to find a raccoon getting comfy in her Christmas tree. Naturally, chaos ensues, and the raccoon eventually pulls the whole tree down, leaving shattered glass and a huge mess in its wake.
6. Dead raccoon finds sympathy in Toronto
In July 2015, history was made when a vigil including roses, a card and a framed photo was held for a dead raccoon found lying on the sidewalk on Yonge Street in Toronto. The story picked up steam when Toronto politician Norm Kelly tweeted about the raccoon (who had by then been named Conrad), asking 311 to pick up the body. The raccoon was eventually picked up but the hashtag #DeadRaccoonTO and the story of Conrad live on in the hearts of Torontonians forever.
7. Raccoon climbs a 25-story building
In 2018, a Minnesota raccoon scaled a 25-storey building in the middle of the night after a group of maintenance people had tried to rescue it from the side of the building. Spooked by the attention, the critter started scaling the old department store to get away from the humans. Thankfully, the animal was eventually rescued and brought safely back down to ground level.
8. Raccoon goes shopping in technology store
In this video, a raccoon demonstrates the activity raccoons do best: wreaking havoc and causing problems for humans. The little critter snuck into a Toronto Best Buy store when no one was looking and promptly began checking out the merchandise and wandering around while staff in the store tried guiding him out the door.
9. Raccoon steals donut
Raccoons get hungry, too, and this raccoon just wanted a snack like the rest of us! After sneaking into his local Tim Horton’s at Main St. and Danforth Ave, this cunning little trickster helped himself to a delicious donut for breakfast — all he’s missing is the coffee, and he’d be just like us. Staff called animal control to remedy the situation, then promptly performed two deep cleans overnight after the little critter’s drop-in.
10. Raccoon chilling on the front porch
We can all take a few pointers on how to relax and unwind from this chilled out raccoon, who made himself comfortable on a Toronto woman’s porch one-morning last summer. Lying on his back with his paws splayed, the creature seems to be catching some rays and living his best life, indeed.
