If you have a friend, neighbor or relative who might keep an eye on the captive raccoon while you are away, they will need to completely raccoon-proof their home before they can take the animal in and should be warned of all the inherent difficulties of keeping a raccoon. Once again, liability insurance is a requirement. The odds of successfully keeping a captive raccoon for an extended period of time are not good. Some estimates put the odds at 300 to 1 against. I have no doubt that this figure is grossly inflated, but there is still a chance that a raccoon who is kept in captivity will eventually become a very unhappy, aggressive animal.
Some people breed raccoons for profit.
Another problem that comes under this heading is breeders who are not really breeders at all. As long as there is a market for young raccoons, there will be people who head for the woods in the spring for the purpose of killing mother raccoons and capturing their young so that they might sell them for profit. Responsibility for this phenomenon may be placed squarely in the hands of anyone who actively encourages people to obtain a raccoon for the purpose of keeping it as a pet. This is a philosophical point- feel free to skip it if you are not in a philosophical frame of mind. As such, it is imbued with a wild spirit.