You’ll find most raccoons scurrying about at ground level, picking through trash cans and looking for scraps to eat. But one raccoon in particular demonstrated how it wasn’t afraid of heights after scaling the facade of the 25-story UBS office building in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Image Credit: Guardian News/YouTube
People started gathering around the building once the raccoon reached the second story. Witnesses claim the raccoon looked scared and exhausted at the time, so they presented it with a ladder to help it back down.
Unsurprisingly, the raccoon ignored the ladder and began crawling higher up the side of the building. It wasn’t long before it reached the 20th floor, and concerned citizens were starting to worry about the animal’s safety.
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Over the next several hours, the raccoon teased witnesses by moving up and down several stories of the building, pausing for breathers along the way.
The raccoon eventually made it so high up that rescue teams couldn’t chase after it. Instead, they placed baited box traps on the building’s roof to lure the raccoon to a more easily-accessible point.
The box traps sat for hours, and it wasn’t until late at night that the raccoon finally decided to see what they had to offer. Upon discovering the irresistible cat food inside one of the box traps, the raccoon became ensnared. There was enough food inside to last the night, enabling a rescue team to retrieve the animal the very next morning.
Local Wildlife Management Services released the trapped raccoon on private property after determining that it was healthy. Animal experts also weighed in, commenting about how unusual it was for a raccoon to climb up the side of such a tall office building in the first place.
At least the raccoon made it out alive. Things could have ended so much more badly.
Source: New York Times, Wildlife Management Services (Facebook)
