Raccoons, especially adult males can grow up thirty percent larger than the female of the species. They are also more aggressive and while they do not take part in child-rearing their singular goal aside from eating drinking and defecating is to hunt down every last baby raccoon that he did not create himself through mating. While this may seem strange it is his way of protecting his children. The mother takes care of everything else so the father can go out and kill other raccoons young. The male raccoon wants to end the lineage of other raccoons to give their children a better chance at a good life with lots of food and water and a place for them to make a den where they won’t be bothered. This process is referred to as inter-species survivability. As opposed to the relationship of a predator to prey inter and intro species behaviours and survivability are very important when understanding how a species acts. This species kills its members. That is not the only species of wildlife that does that. Black and brown squirrels tend to fight each other and their species regularly. Male raccoons are dangerous and aggressive. They are the vector species for rabies and even their feces is deadly.
So if you are beset by a raccoon that seems to be following you. Do not run. Back away slowly. Stand your ground and show it you will hurt it if it tries to hurt you. When it leaves, leave as well. Turn and walk away as if nothing happened. This is how you avoid many dangers of animal attacks and why most people have never gotten rabies or even seen a real raccoon in their garbage. But the ripped bags and the garbage thrown all over the place may seem like an angry neighbour but it was most certainly a raccoon. If you are worried about them coming onto your property you should remove any garbage from your property including damaged sheds and stumps and drainage issues which can be fixed with gravel and soil, then call in a company to haul everything off and get your property graded properly. If that still does not solve the issue then you may have to get rid of any accessible food or water on your property. The most common issues are barbecues that have not been properly cleaned, garbage left out in bags and birdbaths. Resolve those issues and empty the birdbath as it will breed mosquitoes in the summer. You should not see any raccoons on your property after that, at least not for very long.