Vast Perceptions and Ambivalent Attitudes: The Cultural Construction Of The “Raccoon Capital” Of The World

Encounters between humans and raccoons are increasing in frequency as both population densities rise. These encounters spur a vast range of individual perceptions and attitudes concerning raccoons. Moreover, human perceptions and attitudes toward other animals intersect with conspecific relationships. Therefore, this study aims to illuminate individual and collective social perceptions and attitudes through the exploration of discourse data collected over a tenyear duration from Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC), the only wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre in Ontario. Following a mixed-methods exploration of the data using NVivo, results reveal that the language used to describe human-raccoon encounters may be rooted in either of two competing social constructs that vary across individuals: an ethic of compassion for other animals or a social construction of risk that perpetuates stereotypes. Subsequently, further research aimed towards exposing implicit stereotypes is integral to deconstruct the problematic notions that mutually reinforce denigration when oppressions interlock.