NEXT TYPE OF PET

What will be the next animal to be domesticated?  It must be stated that not all animals are susceptible to domestication.  Dogs descend from wolves and it is thought that the process began when wolves started hanging around  human dwellings or campfires to acquire edibles.

An animal that is certainly doing that today is the raccoon.  Raccoons are regarded by many as a nuisance, but, particularly in urban areas, they have taken to raiding human garbage.  This may be the initial stage of domestication.  In due course they will proceed to the inside of the house and sympathetic humans will feed them - maybe.

However, before you go rushing out to obtain a raccoon as a pet, you should be warned that in areas of the United States it is illegal to keep them in captivity.  They are also susceptible to rabies.  While occasional raccoons have been kept as pets in the past, I think it is a long time until - if ever - they become commonplace in the home.

Raccoon

Well, then, how about a skunk?  It may surprise the reader to learn that skunks have been kept as pets and can make good ones.  However, again it may be illegal in some places to keep skunks.  You'll also need to get a pet skunk deodorized.  In the UK, such an operation is prohibited by law.  However, specialist vets have techniques to make the odor problem less serious, even if deodorization has not taken place.

Below you see a picture of a raccoon and a skunk happily sharing human refuse.  Is this truly the first step to domestication?

Yum! Yum!