A young raccoon was freed by a Massachusetts fire department after spending “a while” behind bars on Thursday.
The raccoon found itself in a tough position after getting its head lodged in a street drain grate.
The little bandit-masked creature seemed to be holding its body up with its paws with its head stuck in the grate. Luckily, it hung in there long enough to be spotted by a cyclist, who called emergency services for back up.
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Members of the Newton Fire Department arrived on the scene to remove the grate and free the raccoon.
They took to Twitter to share their success story, writing: “We were able to rescue a juvenile raccoon today with help from Waltham’s Animal Control. He had been stuck for a while but we are happy to report he is free!!!”
Cyclist John Moore — a noted “animal lover” per his Twitter bio — was happy to play a role in releasing the animal.
“Helping save this little juvenile trash panda I noticed stuck on my morning commute. Great to see so many animal lovers in the group,” Moore wrote in a tweet.
It took the team nearly two hours to save the raccoon, Moore wrote in an Instagram post documenting the ordeal.
It seems the internet needed a story with a happy ending this week.
Twitter users flooded the fire department’s tweet with happy replies, with one person writing: “Awww he’s so cute and probably so happy. Good job!”
“Thank you for helping our fellow trash panda,” another user tweeted. “You will be honoured at the next Raccoon Society of American Greeting.” The fire department responded: “That would be pawesome!”
Another feel-good moment emerged in the comments section after one user suggested the raccoon should’ve been euthanized.
“Awww Joe. Step over to the bright side fro a little while. It’s Friday; have some ice cream,” one person responded.
“Joe” simply replied: “OK, good idea! We could all use a little more ice cream.”
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meaghan.wray@globalnews.ca
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