Friday Night Soother: the harrowing climb
by digby
This week people all over the country watched the saga of this poor little critter with our hearts in our throats. Vox helpfully put together the tick-tock:
Every once in a while, a story comes around that reminds us of the sheer power of grit and determination. This time, it is a raccoon that climbed a UBS Plaza building in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The saga of MPR Raccoon — or #MPRraccoon, as it became known on Twitter — began when people spotted a lonely raccoon stuck on the ledge of a building in downtown St. Paul, including employees of Minnesota Public Radio, who carefully documented his plight.
This poor raccoon apparently got itself stranded on a ledge of the Town Square office building in downtown St. Paul, likely on an errant mission to raid pigeon nests on the skyway over 7th Street. It’s been there for two days now, without food or water. @mprnews pic.twitter.com/fVI5pmdCWq— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018
Tim Nelson, a reporter at MPR, said the building’s maintenance workers had tried to rescue the raccoon by building a makeshift ladder to try to lure it back down to the ground.
He made a run for it! Still stuck though. pic.twitter.com/8Z7KTK8K1y— Evan Frost (@efrostee) June 12, 2018
It didn’t work. Instead, the raccoon fled to a neighboring building — the 25-story UBS Plaza — and, in a high-stakes gambit, began scaling the side of the concrete tower with his little raccoon paws.
I don’t know if I can watch this much longer. The #mprraccoon is scaling the UBS Tower. Now 12 stories up. pic.twitter.com/MaP35MLo9j— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018
My picture from the 13th floor around noon. Hope he makes it down OK! #mprraccoon pic.twitter.com/gfVWysn9iO— Ben (@Johnson88Ben) June 12, 2018
The raccoon made it about 20 stories, according to the New York Times, though it took a break along the way to stretch out and take in the views of downtown St. Paul.
Oh nothing just a raccoon hanging out on the 22nd floor of UBS Plaza downtown. pic.twitter.com/XaXE9XExxD— Tad Vezner (@SPnoir) June 12, 2018
The #mprraccoon has arisen from his nap and is climbing again. pic.twitter.com/K1popKu2bF— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018
The raccoon reportedly settled on the 23rd floor sometime late Tuesday afternoon for a nap. Animal control officials put food and a trap on the roof in hopes of enticing the raccoon a few stories up, according to MPR.
But otherwise, the raccoon just relaxed, impervious to (or maybe all too aware of?) the humans worried about the fate of a woodland creature best known for breaking into trash cans and having rabies. The hashtag #MPRraccoon began trending on Twitter, and parody accounts popped up. A local CBS affiliate set up a live stream, according to the Washington Post.
He is on the ledge on our floor. He seems to be doing well. We’ve been told that the building has live traps on the roof and are trying to get him to go up there. We all just have to keep our fingers crossed.. #mprraccoon pic.twitter.com/HY1PkuFKz0— Paige Donnelly law (@donnelly_law) June 12, 2018
The #mprraccoon is doing a little grooming now that he’s a social media star. You know, on a 23rd floor window ledge. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/pGcwh7OJ6L— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018
The raccoon finally stirred around 10 pm and began ping-ponging between stories, climbing up, then down, then back up.
10:05 pm update: #MPRraccoon is on the move. Just climbed up to the vents above the top row of windows pic.twitter.com/KTBYZ4V3EK— Andrew Krueger (@akpix) June 13, 2018
Finally, the raccoon turned and climbed upward, reaching the top of the building in the early morning hours before dawn.
Look at Rocket Raccoon go. #MPRRaccoon pic.twitter.com/wr7MW8nm2L— SpeedKillsBP (@BlancaPena29) June 13, 2018
After a delicious meal of soft cat food, #mprraccoon has been caught and will be picked up by Wildlife Management. Goodbye friend! pic.twitter.com/twcBPpjOQk— UBS Plaza (@ubs_plaza) June 13, 2018
Here’s the #mprraccoon taking the easy way down, in a UBS Plaza freight elevator. pic.twitter.com/Tj8hDlXWMB— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 13, 2018
The confinement was temporary, however: The raccoon was released in a suburb of the Twin Cities, according to Wildlife Management Service, which posted the video of the animal’s scamper to freedom.
The raccoon, it turns out, was a 2-year-old female, whom officials described to the New York Times as “a little skinny but in good shape,” though apparently a bit tired from the climb.
Experts said raccoons climb when they’re stressed. “Raccoons don’t think ahead very much, so raccoons don’t have very good impulse control,” Suzanne MacDonald, a raccoon behavior expert at York University in Toronto, told the Associated Press. “I don’t think the raccoon realized when it started climbing what it was in for.”
Yay! (whew…)
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