Drunk Raccoon in Virginia (Photo from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/03/drunk-raccoon-virginia-liquor-store)

Dear Readers, it’s that time of year when the late-night tube is full of people who are, shall we say, a little the worst for wear, but this raccoon took things a bit too far when he or she found themselves in a liquor store in Virginia after falling through the ceiling.

The liquor store! (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/03/drunk-raccoon-virginia-liquor-store)

The poor raccoon was scooped up, allowed to recover, and then released back into ‘the wild’. I love what the staff at the rescue agency said:

“After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,”

However, this incident is one of many, many raccoon-based felonies (being a regular visitor to Toronto I’ve posted about this before, here and here ), and there is growing evidence that hanging around people is changing the appearance of raccoons. In many animals, domestication is linked to physical changes which are genetically linked to increased friendliness and a reduction in aggression – these include a shorter muzzle, floppy ears and ‘piebald’ (black and white) colouration. It appears that urban raccoons have shorter muzzles than their rural cousins. Foxes show a similar reduction in snout length but, interestingly, cats do not. Then again, I remain to be convinced that cats have ‘really’ been domesticated – I’m sure they’re just taking advantage of their human butlers/servants, and are more than capable of looking after themselves.

For now, though, let’s just be grateful that raccoons haven’t developed opposable thumbs. Yet.

Photo by By Darkone – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=260394