A raccoon who can open an Ottawa green bin would have exactly zero problem with your standard North American refrigerator, and chaos would ensue. Messy chaos.

Squirrels and hedgehogs lack the initiative and stick-to-it-iveness, not to mention the hands, that your typical Ontario raccoon demonstrates on a daily basis. As for foxes -- well, maybe. But they, too, lack the trash panda's finger strength.

Most Canadian municipalities, even very small ones, have by-laws against keeping wild animals within town limits. People complain that their pet whatever (boa constrictor, tiger, kangaroo) is no problem, but on the whole their neighbours disagree. I would be exceedingly unhappy to discover that the people next door are keeping a "domesticated" raccoon, especially in row (terrace) housing.

I wonder what focussed Simon-the-Pieman's attention on small items of clothing? I can sort of understand a fascination with bras, having seen what our cats did to the tassels on the ends of a table runner, but underpants? That's weird.

We used to have a long-haired tuxedo cat name of Lucy who liked rolled-up socks. If she got into the sock drawer or found a basket of unattended laundry, she would seize a sock ball in her teeth and carry it around the house for hours.