Forty-one wild raccoons (Procyon lotor) were captured in Kentucky (USA) and immobilized with 7 to 16 mg/kg of ketamine hydrochloride, January to May 1987. Eight raccoons had muscle tremors in response to ketamine, but recovered with no other observable adverse effects. Mean (+/- SD) induction and duration of immobilization times were 3.2 +/- 1.8 and 42.3 +/- 14.5 minutes, respectively. Based on multiple regression analysis, the interaction of sex (P = 0.0030), body mass (P = 0.0036), dose (P = 0.0159), and the interaction of sex x dose (P = 0.0030) and body mass x dose (P = 0.0021) had a significant effect on the duration of raccoon immobilization.