Last month, Barnstable Animal Control in Massachusetts came upon a rather cartoonish situation: a raccoon with his head stuck in a peanut butter jar.
The raccoon was a juvenile, weaned and (obviously) old enough to eat food on its own, Priya Patel, Wildlife Medical Director at the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, Massachusetts, tells Popular Science. Clearly, though, this young mammal could have benefited from a little more parental supervision.
When Barnstable Animal Control brought the afflicted raccoon to the wildlife center’s hospital, the team didn’t check whether it was male or female because they were very much concentrated on the other end of its body. However, Patel says that if she were to guess, it was a boy.
“Because the raccoon was on the smaller side, one staff member was able to hold onto the raccoon, while another was able to quickly twist the jaw off his head,” Patel explains. “It actually came off easier than expected. Our plan B if it didn’t come off easily with the raccoon awake was to sedate him so that we could safely manipulate his head easier, but fortunately we didn’t have to do that.”
“Our veterinary team was able [to] remove the jar in a jif (get it?) and free our now greasy friend,” the wildlife center wrote in a Facebook post. “The jar remained intact but we can not say the same for his pride (as evidenced by the last photo). Hopefully the peanut butter snack was worth it.”
Thankfully, the raccoon didn’t sustain any injuries from the jar. After a quick exam and rehydrating fluids, animal control released the furry juvenile in the same area they had found it, where its den and family probably were.
According to Patel, the story is a good reminder to live cohesively with the wildlife around us by doing things like securing our trash and either washing recyclables or screwing lids back onto jars.
