There are dozens of people on Twitter and Instagram celebrating the raccoon and how long they’ve waited for it. Remember, there’s a reason why it was included and there’s a reason why it was made the headliner. Raccoons have a similar stance to Capybaras on Social Media, it’s just that some people here in the forums don’t like it, which can definitely give the impression that the majority isn’t fond of its inclusion, stemming from being in this bubble too much. It’s literally part of the Community Managers’ jobs to to evaluate these posts on other social media and gain knowledge about requested animals out of them (or they at least would have a pretty thorough idea of it).
"Dozens of people on Twitter" isn't actually evidence to anything, though. Memes self-propogate and don't indicate the popularity of their subject matter, so they aren't actually useful as indicators of anything other than their own viral spread.
Anyway, your post highlights the exact problem with a lot of people; you're looking at "ambivalence" as "dislike". I'm sure a lot of us who aren't happy with the animal choices in this pack would be fine with them in
other packs with
other animals. If they'd included the raccoon in, say, an Aboreal Animal Pack alongside some more primates, the ocelot, whatever, then it would be easier to swallow. As it stands it's just one among several animals that are on a surface level underwhelming. I have nothing against raccoons - I just don't care about them as a zoo animal. I know they
are zoo animals in most of Europe, but they aren't an animal I would look for at the zoo.
The red fox is the only inclusion I actively
dislike. I like red foxes just fine, but I don't view it as a good choice for this pack in the slightest.
Edit: Plus the comparison with the capybara falls apart when you examine a key difference - the capybara has a very large and successful
global captive presence, whereas captive raccoons tend to be restricted to Europe for the most part.