I can empathize with your feelings peace, I encounter the same emotions around my house dealing with squirrels. I just wanna kill the little beasts when they work their way into the house. I have tried to find the entry point but to no avail, the hazard of living in a 1800's farmhouse. My solution is to set a havahart containment trap and I relocate them to a less populated reservoir area on my way to work. Less houses, more woods, same predators.
But I gotta add...
There is no more hugg-able varmint than the raccoon. We rescued and raised a baby as a "pet" when I was growing up. I use pet in quotations 'cause this is still a wild critter and I have no illusions to domesticated one. However, he roamed the house, would ask to go out, climb into our laps to be petted and would submit dutifully to being taken for walks on a leash. When taken into the woods without a leash, he would walk beside us and follow us back. They are amazingly curious, intelligent and clean with a luxuriously soft coat. We were able find a farm deep in the woods that took him on and he lived there comfortably for several years.