浣熊 / Raccoon

Last night, a couple who were strolling on the street knocked on the door and told me there was a raccoon on my roof. I stepped outside into the cool night, and sure enough, there it was, perching underneath a niche in between two roof lines, pretending that it was part of the house. In the dim moonlight, the animal appeared to look more like an oversized fat cat. It must weigh around 8 kg and measure maybe 80 cm long. Although it was motionless, it never took its eyes off me. Raccoons are extremely smart and mischievous animals. They are known to use their pair of 'thumbs' (though not opposable like human) to open up lidded garbage cans, closed containers, and even latched doors in search for food. Raccoons are omnivores and are known to go after small birds and animals, and of course, vegetable in people's garden.

For fear that my uninvited guest might chew through the shingles or the sidings of the house and move in with me, I climbed onto the roof and tried to scare it off. You should have seen the ensuing human vs raccoon race around the roof. In the end, the raccoon, with its four legs, better night vision, dexterity, and intelligence (although I would rather call it animal instinct), won the chase. Given that it was getting late and knowing the raccoon's strategy was trying to make me fall off the roof, I admitted defeat and left it on the roof. I was sure it would find its way back down from the roof into my backyard where it would go back and had a good laugh with its family. Didn't I tell you there are lots of bloggers with names like 'coons' or 'raccoon furs' on the Internet?

* Photo credit: 維基百科 Wikipedia

* References on 浣熊 / Raccoons:

http://zh.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E6%B5%A3%E7%86%8A&variant=zh-hk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racoon