Rescuers Race To Remove Jar From Animal’s Head And Reveal Sweetest Face
Story by Maeve Dunigan
Rescuers Race To Remove Jar From Animal’s Head And Reveal Sweetest Face
Stumbling through brambles, branches and mud, a small animal tried in vain to figure out where he was going. The little guy had gotten his head stuck inside a peanut butter jar and was now blindly navigating dense New England underbrush. A nearby homeowner spotted the animal running haphazardly near her house and did a double take.
“I’m not sure if she knew exactly what she was looking at at first,” Zak Mertz, New England Wildlife Center CEO, told The Dodo.
Rescuers Race To Remove Jar From Animal’s Head And Reveal Sweetest Face© Facebook/Cape Wildlife CenterThe homeowner eventually realized that the troubled visitor was a raccoon who’d poked his head inside the jar for a tasty snack and gotten himself into a precarious situation. Luckily, New England Wildlife Center rescue team members had seen this before — they were going to get him out, but they had to act fast.
“We knew we had to do something,” Mertz said. “It turns out, even a raccoon that has a cloudy jar on its head is still pretty evasive.”
Related video: Freeing an Animal’s Head Trapped in a Jar (ViralHog)
The rescue team worked to locate the raccoon over a series of visits, getting closer each time. Eventually, they caught up to him. Using cat food as bait, the team lured the hungry raccoon out of his burrow.
Rescuers Race To Remove Jar From Animal’s Head And Reveal Sweetest Face© Facebook/Cape Wildlife CenterWhen the raccoon popped out, the team used a grabbing tool to quickly snatch the jar off his head. In an instant, rescuers finally saw the sweet face that had been hidden for so long.
Rescuers Race To Remove Jar From Animal’s Head And Reveal Sweetest Face© Facebook/Cape Wildlife Center
A veterinarian on site confirmed that the raccoon hadn’t sustained any injuries and was safe to return to his life in the wild. Team members were thrilled that this raccoon’s story had a happy ending. The raccoon, who joyfully ducked back into the safety of his burrow, was equally elated.
“It never gets old,” Mertz said. “There’s just no better feeling.”
To prevent situations like this in the future, Mertz urges community members to secure their garbage cans tightly and screw lids back onto jars before trashing them. If everyone watches what they’re throwing away, raccoons like this one will surely be grateful.
To help other animals like this raccoon, make a donation to the New England Wildlife Center.
I am so happy this raccoon got the help it needed.
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