photo by Plomo Media
San Francisco Citizen directs our attention to Plomo Media’s awesome photo of a raccoons queuing up for a bus on the MUNI #18 46 Ave line at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco.
via Troy Holden
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
So. Cute. Dying here.
Ha!
That’s hilarious and creepy at the same time.
Cute.. yet brutal..
Methinks the bus driver is feeding those mega-rats nightly.
Do they have to pay the normal fare or is there a raccoon discount?
heh, it’s possible i saw a family of five heading there the other night, they were in a hurry
“We lost our transfers. Also, we’re raccoons.”
“Step right on.”
LQQK! Real LIVE furries!!!
Don’t let the raccoons drive the bus!
Un dia caminando en san fran me tope’ frente a frente con un raccoon GIGANTE casi como kung fu panda, casi nos damos un besito, pero mas bien nos asustamos y poquito a poquito retrocedimos silenciosamente, hasta reconocer que estabamos a salvo uno del otro… superrr funny cardiaco.
What a great photo. Kudos to the bus driver for feeding them. This photo just proves how great the people of San Francisco are. It’s a cruel world out there in the big city and the animals need friends just like the rest of us. Give the bus driver a raise so he can buy more food for them!
Those raccoons must have just finished visiting the Legion of Honor’s new exhibit, “The Overflowing Gilded Trash Cans of European Royalty, 1801-1899.”
Moments later, the raccoon pack surged forward and ate the flesh from the bus driver’s bones as he died a horrible screaming death.
They may look cute, but raccoons are vicious…he’s taking a pretty big risk by feeding them.
Chris Yeh – “raccoons are vicious”? Isn’t that a very stereotypical statement? I do not mean to pick you out here :) but it is a good example of how brainwashed our society has become. When it comes to causing deliberate harm to humans, there is no non-human animal that tops humans themselves. Wildlife such as raccoons ONLY ever fight in defense – for survival purposes. I have worked with hundreds of raccoons and like most wild animals I have been blessed to earn their trust and see a side of them that our media and gov’t agencies have distanced us from with over stated myths and fear. Our ancestors had a live and let live attitude and well survived what we too easily write off as ‘nuisance’ now.
Raccoons intelligence is second only to higher monkeys and chimpanzees (Purdue University).
Raccoons, as every urban wild animal, have a purpose in our ecosystem. A few minutes of research will amaze you!
Per USF&G 2006 national survey, 55 million feed wildlife. 19.5 feed “other wildlife” (non birds). I am not condoning feeding certain wildlife, certain situations, or poor, harmful diets. But where are the stats to prove all feeding wildlife causes conflicts against these numbers? It does cause conflicts in SOME situations, but obviously not ALL the time! Personally, this bus driver is obviously charmed by his group of friends, but what if he loses his job? It MIGHT cause a conflict if a couple of those raccoons wander about looking for him.
But please, do not allow our state agencies and media to brain-wash you. State agencies are running a business. If we don’t care how animals are treated, neither will they. Your perception is up to you to formulate.
Wild animals are every bit the sentient, individualistic, emotional being our dog or cat is… every bit as capable of pain, suffering, joy, grief… that we all are. It is not our place to measure them against humans. It is our responsibility to respect our world and every creature in it.
PS – Raccoons are not remotely in the rodent family, George. They are distant cousins to the bear family (the lesser, or red, panda bear).
They do not “carry rabies”. Like any mammal, including humans, they must be infected by a bite or saliva from an infected mammal THAT IS IN THE CONTAGIOUS STAGE. Rabies is NOT airborn and IS NOT even contagious until it reaches the encephaletic stage. Symptoms (that are MUCH more obvious than just being seen in daylight!) will show in a couple days, and the animal will die within a weeks time. No mammal can exist in the contagious disease for very long.
Mother raccoons, and juiveniles, are often out during the day – as well as raccoons that are in somewhat safe environments where being nocturnal is not critical for survival.
If an animal is rabid, you will know it (unless it is in the very few days prior to symptomatic). They become VERY strange acting, almost suicidal. However, distemper is also often mistaken for rabies.
SunChaser, you cannot be serious. Raccoons are wild animals and no one should be feeding them. This is why people get attacked by animals because they no longer fear us, kind of like people who feed bears and wonder why they start breaking into peoples houses. I am sure raccoons have a place in the ecosystem, and we should not interfere by feeding them. Chris may have a point, when animals congregate in packs, such as wild or domestic dogs, them can become extremely dangerous.
Its all fun and games until someone, or a kid gets attacked by a raccoon – by that point people will be on the hunt to kill these things off.
Hey Sunchaser,
Watch Werner Herzog’s movie Grizzly Man if you want to hug wild animals. Soft hearted/headed anthropomorphising of wild animals does a disservice to the animal(s) and to humans. Animals are meat, pets, science projects, prey and the like for humans. Terrible? Maybe, but true.