Why are raccoon’s nicknamed “trash pandas”, well it’s not just their ability to knock over trash bins and crawl their way in, it’s also because they have a scorched-earth approach to all the local wildlife they can fit in their mouths wrecking ecosystems (and your lawn). Raccoons also consume all kinds of worms, fish (in ponds) and crabs (beaches in Delta) at an alarming rate. Now researchers have discovered that raccoons who heard menacing dog barks spent 66 percent less time foraging in that area. Basically, the scientists had created the sonic equivalent of a scarecrow. Like scarecrows, the dog barking changed animal behavior just by providing a sense of menace. Therefore, raccoons are vulnerable to psychological warfare. They are changing their behavior totally out of fear or they are having a psychological reaction. The mere sound of dogs gives rise to a ‘‘landscape of fear.”
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/trash-pandas-scared-landscape-fear-randy-bilesky?published=t
http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-trash-pandas-scared-by-landscape-of-fear-1.2183705#sthash.ZawpW2yZ.dpuf