Raccoons on the prowl in the Rains courtyard.

If any of you has suffered the unfortunate experience of walking home from downtown PA late at night, you may have been accosted along Palm Drive. Not by the police—they’re preoccupied with drunk cyclists—but perhaps by a small masked creature with a ringed tail: the common raccoon.

If you’re not from the U.S. or Europe, this is likely to be your first encounter with the raccoon, a nocturnal mammal native to North America. Congratulations! However, AtTheBirds cautions you against greeting your new friend too heartily. Raccoons are naturally timid, but can lose their fear of humans for two predominant reasons: domestication and rabies. Stanford’s creepily tame raccoons have most likely become used to our presence; rabies, on the other hand, is pretty serious stuff. If you encounter a “friendly” raccoon, take appropriate precautions. Do not approach the animal, do not accept any candy it may offer, and under no circumstances enter the vehicle it is driving, if any. Rabid raccoons have no regard for traffic safety laws. They may also bite and kill you.

Fortunately, reports of raccoon attacks on campus are low (and true reports, even lower). They seem to be a nuisance to grounds services and little else.

Rumor has it that Schwab has its own family of raccoons living in the palm trees out front. If you can confirm (or deny) this, let us know in the comments!