You’ve heard the blood-curdling screams, you’ve seen their beady eyes in the night, you know it’s true: the raccoons are back.

Along with the arrival of squirrels and robins, spring heralds the return of Toronto’s favourite menace, the raccoon. The nocturnal carnivore has been a source of consternation for years, with sightings covering the city from end to end.

Recently, councillors such as Rob Ford (open Rob Ford's policard) and David Shiner (open David Shiner's policard) have denounced the city’s raccoon problem, and some civilians have advocated for euthanasia. But for one local biologist, the furry bandits are a source of fascination, not worry.

“The fact that they live with us so well and thrive in urban environments . . . they really are a very interesting species,” said Suzanne MacDonald, an animal behaviour researcher and professor at York University who studies raccoons.

MacDonald is one of the world’s leading experts on the critters, but she’s hoping to expand her research to include the human animal. She’s created an online survey to poll Torontonians about their close encounters (and concerns) of the furry kind.

“We really don’t know if there is a raccoon problem, there is no data on that,” she said.

Specifically, she hopes to learn what areas of the city are most affected and what factors (like pets) may lead to more frequent encounters. She hopes to share the data with the city, so officials can tackle the problem — if there is one — rationally.

“I think we should focus our scarce dollars on the areas where there actually are problems,” she said.

Raccoons are nocturnal scavengers, MacDonald said, who thrive by living close to their main food supply — people. Mostly, they root through garbage bins, but if you leave your screen door open, they might just be bold enough to loot your kitchen, too.

“It’s been such a terrible winter that they’re really, really hungry. They’re on the verge of starvation,” MacDonald said, adding that because of this, now is the time when people might notice the most mayhem.

You can take MacDonald’s 10-question survey on raccoons here.

Four facts about raccoons:

1. City raccoons are smarter than their country cousins: MacDonald said that raccoons in cities are smarter than their rural relatives, because they’ve adapted to human challenges. The more obstacles we throw in their path, the better they get at overcoming them.

“We’re creating the perfect little raccoon,” she said. “It’s an evolutionary arms race.”

2. There’s way more of them than you think: Some estimate about 100 raccoons per square kilometre, but Macdonald said that’s probably a bit low. She said that contrary to popular belief, raccoons aren’t lonesome animals, and if you think you have one, you probably have 10.

“There are way more of them than you think,” she said.

3. Raccoons are the monkeys of the GTA: With their crafty little hands and clever brains, raccoons act a lot like primates in more tropical climates. As carnivores, they’re more closely related to cats and dogs than squirrels, MacDonald said.

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“If they confront cats, cats generally win,” she said.

4. How did the raccoon cross the road? It didn’t: Raccoons have no predators, MacDonald said, except cars. But through studying the creatures, she has learned that raccoons are smart enough to rarely cross major roadways and mostly spend their whole lives in their (our) neighbourhoods.

“They’re using fences as highways, and they’re all on the highway at the same time,” she said.