Masked critters still get a pass in Toronto

The trouble is, writes Margaret Wente in The Globe and Mail Oct. 23, we have unwittingly bred the most successful, most competitive raccoons in the history of the species. York University’s Suzanne MacDonald, an expert in animal behaviour, calls them über-raccoons. “Urban raccoons have had many generations of dealing with opening garbage cans, prying open windows, eavestroughs, pet doors, garages and the like,” she told me. Thanks to these evolutionary pressures, they’re getting smarter faster than we are. Read full article