Free Climbing Raccoon Captures Hearts and Minds Scaling Minnesota Skyscraper

Inspiration can strike from the most unlikely of places, and on Tuesday it was found in the form of a small, determined mammal on an improbable upward adventure.

Internet-addicts among us may now have heard of #MPRraccoon, the creature seen climbing up the side of a 25-storey tower in St. Paul, Minnesota. The raccoon made it all the way up to a ledge on the twenty-third story of the UBS building Tuesday, Minneapolis-based WCCO radio reports, as Animal Control tried to lure it the roof where it could be safely captured.

“We’re hoping the raccoon goes to the top of the building so we can help it out of its predicament,” a spokesperson for the St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspection said, according to WCCO.

The raccoon was originally stranded on a different nearby building Monday before escaping to a nearby roof and starting its unlikely ascent, Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reports. Rescue efforts by the St. Paul Fire Department and building workers, who fashioned a makeshift ladder, have proven unsuccessful.

Late Tuesday night, the raccoon began to slowly descend to the seventeenth floor, according to an MPR reporter.

Its travails captivated social media users. Before long, a Twitter account for the climbing critter was created, and an Internet star was born.

The saga struck a chord, inspiring both art and introspection.

Here’s to a safe descent.