While the scientific community is agog about the possibility of domesticating raccoons, it's reported that the animals were being sold at a pet market in Shanghai last year.

Large groups of raccoons live in many major settlements in North America and have adapted to life in the city surprisingly well. Unlike cats, they are not fussy eaters and their skill at rummaging through garbage cans is becoming the stuff of legend.

Hu Yaowu, a professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, said domestication is possible in theory but will take a long time. The process took hundreds, if not thousands, of years for dogs and cats. In addition, under Chinese law it is illegal to raise a raccoon at home.

There is a lack of any fundamentally mutual interest between humans and raccoons. Baby raccoons may appear adorable, but can you name cubs from any species that aren't cute? However, adult raccoons can be ferocious; they will bite humans and are notorious for sneaking into houses and stealing. Moreover, just because there have been reports of humans raising raccoons as pets, that does not mean the animals have been domesticated - they have simply been tamed.

- Zhang Lei

(China Daily USA 01/23/2014 page7)