Toronto's Raccoons

Toronto has, for decades, carried an informal reputation as one of the world's most raccoon-dense cities, a status researchers have linked to the animal's intelligence, dexterity and comfort living alongside humans, combined with the abundant food waste, mature tree cover and near-total absence of natural predators that a large North American city like Toronto provides. Studies of urban raccoon behaviour have specifically used Toronto's population as a research subject given how thoroughly the animals have adapted to city life here.

An arms race over the green bin

That adaptability became a genuine municipal design problem when Toronto rolled out its curbside green bin composting program in the 2000s: early bin designs were quickly defeated by raccoons capable of learning and manipulating simple latches to access food waste inside. The city redesigned the bins multiple times, adding increasingly raccoon-resistant locking mechanisms that required a level of dexterity or leverage the animals couldn't easily replicate, a low-grade design battle between municipal engineers and the city's raccoon population that received international media coverage and cemented Toronto's reputation as a capital of urban raccoon culture.

Sources

• CBC News — Toronto's raccoon-proof green bins
• The Atlantic — Toronto's raccoon problem

Continue reading

Toronto's Ward Structure

The province cut Toronto's council from a planned 47 wards to 25, mid-campaign, in 2018. A court called it…

The PATH

Toronto's underground pedestrian network connects 75+ buildings across 30 kilometres of climate-controlled…

Caribana

Launched in 1967 by Toronto's Caribbean community to mark Canada's centennial, Caribana grew into one of the…

Toronto Food Culture

Toronto's food scene isn't one cuisine with some diversity mixed in — it's genuinely built from over 200…