The Raccoon is about the size of a badger. It has a grey-brown coat, a tail ringed with black and a dark band across the face and eyes, giving it the apperance of being masked, It is intelligent and besides being terrestrial, it is both aquatic and arboreal, being almost as much at home in the tress as a squirrel. Though standing in a plantigrade manner it actually walks with its heels off the ground. It has the curious habit of apparently washing its food before eating and it retains this habit even when tame. Recent research has shown, however, that on entering the water it "paddles" with its fore paws whether these hold food or not. When they do hold food the action looks like washing. Moreover, if away from water or if the water is more than a few inches deep, this action is inhibited and there is no sign of this so called washing. In the wild state the Raccoon preys upon anything in farms, turning as readily to the orchard as to the chicken run, but although much hunted it is still plentiful in many areas. Throughout its range it feeds extensively on crayfishes, Raccoons are among the most completely nocturnal animals. They hibernate only in the most northrerly part of their range, which covers North America up into Canada. The fur (and the animal colloqually) is known as Coon and was once widely used by North American Frontiersmen and sporadically returns to favour as hat or trimming fur. As of recently there is new strain of rabies entering Canada from the United States that leaves the Raccoon most vunerable and vacinations and monitoring is taking place at the Canadian and the United States borders.