Skyscraper-scaling raccoon rescued

• A raccoon that became an internet sensation by scaling a 25-storey office tower in downtown St. Paul, Minn., was safely trapped Wednesday and released back into the wild.

The raccoon looked a bit bedraggled but healthy after it was caught before dawn atop the UBS Plaza. Technicians took the caged raccoon down a freight elevator to a truck, according to Wildlife Management Services.

“It’s definitely a healthy raccoon. It’s in good condition. It’s eating normally,” said Christina Valdivia, the company’s general manager, who accompanied the technicians to the rooftop.

The animal was later released on private property near the Twin Cities suburb of Shakopee.

The raccoon’s adventures caused a stir on social media as it scaled the tower Tuesday, with many Twitter users expressing concern for its safety or joking about the drama as its seemly death-defying climb was livestreamed by several broadcasters. Valdivia said her mother-in-law saw it on the news in Chile.

The animal made it to the roof early Wednesday, where traps baited with cat food were waiting. Minnesota Public Radio, which broke the story and closely followed the raccoon’s climb from its headquarters less than a block away, branded the animal #mprraccoon.

Among those riveted was Suzanne MacDonald, a raccoon behaviour expert at York University in Toronto.

“Raccoons don’t think ahead very much, so raccoons don’t have very good impulse control,” she said, admitting she could barely sleep she was so worried about the animal. “I don’t think the raccoon realized when it started climbing what it was in for.”

Initial speculation was that the raccoon climbed to a lower part of the building, frequented by pigeons, in search of bird eggs.

But workers who tried to lure it down with a wooden ramp likely just scared it, said Phil Jenni, executive director of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota.