18Rock it, raccoon!
Climbing critter makes it all the way up a 25-story skyscraper
A death-defying raccoon is finally safe after a 25-story climb up a UBS building in Minnesota that followed an earlier ascent up a neighboring structure.
The animal’s thrill-seeking adventure began on Monday when it was spotted scaling the side of a short, two-story office building by Minnesota Public Radio. The somewhat frightened-looking raccoon sought shelter in a nook of the building’s façade and took the remaining hours of the day and night to compose itself.
The building’s maintenance workers fashioned a ladder out of some lumber and two-by-fours to try to help the critter make its way back down, according to MPR, but the piece of equipment only sent it scurrying up.
The small brown mammal somehow then moved on to the adjacent UBS tower. At this point, a crowd had gathered and the mayhem attracted a much larger Internet audience following the Twitter-trending #mprraccoon’s journey.
The director of “Guardians of the Galaxy” — which features Rocket Raccoon, a genetic experiment-turned-reluctant hero — even offered $1,000 toward the little guy’s rescue mission.
“I can’t handle this,” James Gunn tweeted. “Poor dude.”
The climber had it all under control though, and eventually made it to the top of the UBS building Wednesday morning, where animal control officials set live traps on the roof.
“We’re happy to confirm that #mprraccoon is safe and doingv well,” UBS tweeted Wednesday morning. “A big thank you to Wildlife Management, who are releasing him in the Northern Twin Cities suburbs.”
The animal’s adventure shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to experts. The black-masked bandits have “great manual dexterity,” according to the MSPCA’s website. “They are agile climbers.”