Some years ago a relative of mine adopted a baby raccoon. Herbie was its name. Herbie was the cutest, most cuddly little creature imaginable. He was hooked on oreo cookies. Because Herbie was fed an ample, high calorie diet, he grew rapidly into a rolly-poley prankster. We had been warned that raccoons go through a glandular change at about two years of age and often attack their owners. A 30- pound raccoon can be equal to a 100-pound dog in a scrap. But our response was: "It will be different with Herbie. He is just too tame, too friendly, too domesticated to ever change that much." But we were wrong. One day he tried to bite a little boy who was petting him. After three or four more ugly incidents of misbehavior, Herbie had to be released into the woods.

Are you aware that we often use…