Lots of people feed rat-coons...

Almost anywhere in the US, about all you have to do to feed the 'coons is leave the lid on your trash can a little loose.

I've watched (from my motel room window on the third floor) as many as a dozen 'coons dumpster diving in the alley below - in the middle of downtown Philadelphia.

Similar sights, with somewhat fewer of the critters in each bunch, in Seattle, Barstow, Yuma, and Milwaukee.

Skunks are very similar, and about as ubiquitous; but unless you walk your cats very late at night you'll never know they're around.

'possums are about the most common "night visitor" I've seen in our back yards recently. They're not even cute, IMO. I had to "dispatch" two in separate incidents a few years ago because they attacked our dog, and refused to leave.

Although they've always been limited to areas well south, we've begun seeing quite a few armadillos here, and up to at least 150 miles north beyond here. So far I haven't heard of anyone trying to make a pet of one - or anyone nearby with an urge to eat one. ('possum on the hardshell?)

(A recent minor outbreak of Hansen's disease about 100 miles ESE of here was blamed on handling them, and news reports implied that in a few subcultures in that area eating them was fairly common, although not frequent. That's an area where they've been common for a long time.)

I have seen a couple of porcupines in surprisingly densely populated areas. One was looking for bubble gum at the front door to City Hall in one of the Seattle suburbs at about 04:00 am one morning.

It's claimed that there were once lots of beavers in my area, but granddaddy said my great grandma trapped them all. She got some, but I think the Corps of Engrs has more to do with their current absence, since the whole area is "drainage controlled" and CofE wouldn't let 'em keep a dam long enough to put the third stick in it.

We've had claims of sightings of cougars in the area for years, but only in the past couple of years were two or three convincingly confirmed. One was a road kill, and another was carrying a tracking chip and came about 300 miles in from Colorado - - - and then went back home. A third one was "seen," and scat found in the area passed a DNA test to convince the "reporter's" friends he was sane (although they said still probably drunk).

John