Raccoons after dark: their haters, and their lovers

Urban raccoons are known as cute, smart, yet sometimes destructive pests that cause headaches for homeowners. Their mischief can range from raiding trash, to sensational headlines about terrorized neighborhoods that call for traps and controls.

According to the PBS nature show Raccoon Nation:

In an effort to outwit raccoons, we may be pushing their brain development and perhaps even sending them down a new evolutionary path. One biologist who has been studying raccoons for 25 years believes the city life is in fact cultivating “über-raccoons,” ready to take over the world.

While PBS jokes about "über-raccoons", Germany has somber, no-nonsense, bedenklich news about their Nazi raccoon occupation.

Some people worry about repelling them, but other people have a much more welcoming point of view... although they might keep their unsavory interests on the down-low. Mauricio Baiocchi, a distinguished San Francisco Bay area animator with credits from Industrial Light and Magic, lets us in on their sordid secrets in his 2011 short film, Cooners.

Cooners screened in festivals including the San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival (a creation of prominent drag and midnight movie personality Peaches Christ, that will host a furry production in its next semi-annual happening.) Some watchers called it a humorously deadpan/offbeat highlight of the show.

From the show program:

COONERS:
A fully realized Craigslist “casual encounters” ad skewed towards scat and fur comes to the big screen.

Cooners can be seen here (NSFW for suggestive content).

Baiocchi's most recent project is an intricately crafted, puppet-animated film and children's book starring anthropomorphic bugs, Cicada Princess. It raised a budget of $74,272 on Kickstarter. Its current status is "wrapped and anxiously awaiting news from film festivals worldwide. Stay tuned for news!"