Technically, raccoons are considered to be pests. They intrude on people’s homes or backyards to find food. They enter homes through chimneys, gaps in roofs, and other buildings’ weaknesses. These entrances can damage the house even further, and plus, they can pose a risk to humans too. 

For instance, some raccoons are infected with rabies, which could infect humans too, and once the symptoms appear, the disease is 100% fatal. Raccoons can also spread mites and fleas, and their droppings can contain roundworms, which are also harmful to people. 

Besides posing health risks and being destructive, the animals are quite violent as well. Here, on this Reddit thread, one user shared how their grandma’s cat was disemboweled by raccoons, while another person said one mauled the face of a person they know. Doesn’t sound so good, does it?

At the same time, not all raccoons are violent. In fact, they can even be domesticated, housetrained, and become affectionate. Still, many animal experts advise against keeping them as pets, as raccoons tend to be unpredictable, it's hard to manage their behavior and diet, and they need a lot of space. Overall, they are pretty high-maintenance pets, so not everyone is capable of keeping them. 

That doesn’t mean that people can’t enjoy what fun animals raccoons are. That’s what today’s list is for. In it, you’ll find plenty of funny images of raccoons basically being themselves – whimsical and cute animals. 

People find raccoons cute because of their sweet little faces that look like they’re wearing masks, almost human-like tiny paws, and their mischievous attitude. 

A perfect example of people’s fascination with these animals is the famous video of a raccoon getting sad after its cotton candy dissolves in water. The people found it so endearing (and also sad) that it basically became an internet classic.

Interestingly, what we never knew until now is that at the end of the video, the raccoon gets another cotton candy as a replacement for the dissolved one, which makes the video even better. 

This cuteness might drive some people to leave out food so they can see how these animals feast. While, yes, temporarily that would be adorable to watch, in the long run, it could be quite dangerous.

The left-out food might encourage them to keep coming back, and before you know it, they might try breaking in, which, as we already acknowledged, they’re good at. And let’s not repeat what we already discussed about the dangers they bring. 

So, basically, due to the complicated human-raccoon relationship, these animals are best to be admired from afar. Our list is the best way to do that. So, don’t be shy, scroll and upvote!