Bandit: The World’s Fattest Raccoon

You are saying to yourself what a cute picture of the world’s largest raccoon. No doubt you find it cute and it brings a smile to your face. Yes this is the fattest Raccoon I know of that has ever been recorded is good old Bandit. His weight ballooned up to 75 pounds and it’s safe to assume he was not missing out on too many snacks.

This picture of Bandit is from 1991 who is shown with the owner (can anyone really own a wild animal?) Deborah Klitsch of Palmerton, Penn. The normal weight for a raccoon is around 25 pounds so this big rascal weighed more than three times the average weight for a male coon.

The question I have is this? Should owners be held responsible for allowing their pets to get this fat? Isn’t this an irresponsible action on their part because obviously this raccoon could no longer climb trees, could no longer leap on top of a dipsy dumpster. He was confined to walking around the house and back yard and his life was ruined.

I’ve seen dogs and cats that are just way to fat. All the owner has to do is feed them less food or give them a dietary food. There is really no excuse for this. Certainly the animal is going to eat whatever is put in front of him it’s in his nature. But the owner of that pet has to know better and they aren’t doing the pet any kind of a service by allowing him to mushroom up and look like a big whale. Weight isn’t the only problem now in most cases these fat animals end up suffering all kinds of other health problems, they would never have had if the owner would just cut down on feeding them.

I guess people feel they are spoiling their beloved pet and of course when you give that dog another biscuit he wags his tail and looks so happy how can you resist his begging? If people forced their pets to smoke cigarettes and got them hooked on them there would be outrage, protests and laws passed to save the animals. Sadly people just smile and say “look at the fat dog, isn’t he cute” while the poor dog is gasping for air, his lungs almost crushed by the extra weight, and he can’t run more than a few feet without stopping to pant. It’s truly a travesty and I hope people will wake up and stop killing your pets with too much food. Sadly our friend Bandit passed away in May 2004, fat and most likely in pain.