Ignoramus15189 ) wrote:
: I have a fenced backyard where I have a vegetable garden that is
: somewhat ransacked by raccoons. (or some other animals).

Here's the advice I hear frequently on "You Bet Your Garden" with Mike
McGrath:

Dig a trench two feet deep around your garden, and put 6 foot tall
wire fence into it. No burrowing animal burrows deeper than two feet.
Use stakes to support the fence, and fill in the trench. You now have
four feet of fence above ground and two feet of fence below.

Don't secure the top foot of the fence to the stakes. Instead, bend
it outwards at least 45 degrees.

Now you have a fence that burrowing creatures can't burrow under, and
climbing creatures can't climb over. When they try to climb, they
have to hang upside down from the unsecured part of the fence, which
bends under their weight and drops them on the ground.

The only way a critter can get through such a fence is by jumping over
it, knocking it down, or going through it.

I've never tried this myself, but it sounds reasonable.

--- Chip