trash panda

From a likening of the black patches around a raccoon's eyes to similar markings on a giant panda, it being in the same superfamily as the red panda, and a reference to its tendency to forage for garbage in urban environments.

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trash panda (plural trash pandas)

1. (US, Canada, slang, humorous) A raccoon, especially one that forages in garbage cans.

   Synonyms: dumpster bandit, dumpster panda, garbage panda

   • 2016 April 30, Zach Dennis, “Florida man tries to feed ‘trash panda’ in epic fail”, in Palm Beach Post, retrieved 13 April 2018:

     Braddock Baskett of the Orlando-area attempted to give some raccoons food. […] Maybe he should’ve taken his own warning before feeding the “trash panda”.

   • 2017 July 14, Josh Rottenberg, “All the intel on Disney and Pixar's new slate of animated films”, in Los Angeles Times, retrieved 13 April 2018:

     [T]he family baby, Jack-Jack, sees a raccoon eating from the family’s garbage can while his father, Mr. Incredible, is sleeping, and uses his superpowers […] to do battle with the trash panda.

   • 2018 April 12, Alanna Rizza, “It took this raccoon 30 seconds to break into a raccoon-proof green bin”, in The Star, Canada, retrieved 13 April 2018:

     A video posted to Facebook on Saturday shows a trash panda breaking into a “raccoon-proof” green bin in less than 30 seconds.

• dumpster bandit, garbage bandit, trash bandit