Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Soup saga: Raccoon gets his head stuck in can of Campbell’s chunky chicken noodle
When an apparently hungry raccoon used his head — he got it stuck inside a soup can.
The northern raccoon in southwest Florida ended up with his head jammed inside the can of Campbell’s Chunky Chicken Noodle soup.
After all, the can’s label reads “soup that eats like a meal.”
Good thing the ravenous raccoon ended up at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife in Sanibel in Lee County on Monday. Concerned about the animal’s labored breathing, veterinarians first did the obvious: they used a can opener to remove the bottom of the can, the clinic wrote in a Facebook posting.
“The raccoon was then given sedation medication so the team could safely cut the can away,” the posting said. After that it was easy. When the medication kicked it, the raccoon relaxed and the can was easily slipped from his head.
The medical team checked him out and found him to be in “great health.”
When the sedative fully wears off the raccoon will be returned to the wild.
It’s not the first time on record that a raccoon had a tough encounter with a soup can. In 2013, a raccoon in a similar squeeze was dropped off at a fire rescue station in Coral Springs. In that case, the animal was abandoned with a handwritten note claiming, “I was in the dumpster and got a soup can stuck on my head... please help me.”
After firefighters gingerly cut the can away — the raccoon scampered off never to be seen again.