MADE IT!: High-Climbing Raccoon Reaches Top Of St. Paul Skyscraper And America Exhales
A raccoon who captured the nation’s attention by climbing 20 stories up the side of a skyscraper in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Tuesday reached the roof of the building overnight to the delight of the internet.
Tim Nelson of Minnesota Public Radio, who has been covering the high-altitude drama, tweeted the news just after 3:45 a.m. Eastern time.
The #mprraccoon just made it to the roof! Video courtesy @DPet_KARE11News pic.twitter.com/Wb5xPsANZh
— Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 13, 2018
I MADE IT!!!
I'd like to thank God, the great people of Minnesota and the Wu-Tang Clan.
Now someone come get me. I'm on the roof.#mprraccoon #WuTang #MINNESOTA pic.twitter.com/V1HseSwVOV— The MPR Raccoon (@TheStPaulRacco1) June 13, 2018
OMG I went to bed and he was headed down. I wake up and he climbed all the way up to the roof. Holy crap! Way to go little dude! #mprraccoon !
— Julie Zimmerle (@foreverinshadow) June 13, 2018
A few hours later, Nelson tweeted that the raccoon had been trapped. A newly created Twitter account for the building, the UBS Plaza, appeared to confirm the news, tweeting a photo of the critter in a trap eating a “delicious meal of soft cat food.”
After a delicious meal of soft cat food, #mprraccoon has been caught and will be picked up by Wildlife Management. Goodbye friend! pic.twitter.com/twcBPpjOQk
— UBS Plaza (@ubs_plaza) June 13, 2018
A local wildlife management company released the raccoon on “private residential property” on Wednesday. The company, Wildlife Management Services, posted a video of the release on Facebook and noted that it consulted with animal rehabilitation experts before freeing the raccoon.
A spokesperson for Wildlife Management Services told HuffPost that based on its size, staff believes the raccoon is a female. However, the spokesperson said the company could not confirm the raccoon’s sex for sure.
The raccoon was dubbed the #MPRraccoon because Minnesota Public Radio, whose offices are in a nearby building, documented the animal’s long, strange trip. So did other concerned animal lovers:
Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.
He is on the ledge on our floor. He seems to be doing well. We’ve been told that the building has live traps on the roof and are trying to get him to go up there. We all just have to keep our fingers crossed.. #mprraccoon pic.twitter.com/HY1PkuFKz0
— Paige Donnelly law (@donnelly_law) June 12, 2018
As the raccoon climbed higher and higher on Tuesday, animal welfare officials hoped that it would reach the roof of the UBS Plaza building so it could be trapped. But overnight, the nocturnal mammal thwarted that plan by beginning to descend. The wily creature climbed down to the 17th floor, where observers said it appeared to be resting.
But it changed course one more time and climbed up to the roof.
Many people followed the raccoon’s adventures and half a dozen Twitter accounts purporting to represent the animal were launched. Even Jake Tapper of CNN commented on the situation:
I love the story of the #mprraccoon so I’m going to shut out of my brain the fact that raccoons are nasty and evil beasts and not at all what we want them to be. pic.twitter.com/7JXiO0pyPA
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 12, 2018
#mprraccoon raccoon IS MOVING AROUND. do you realize how many people will need therapy when this is over? people online with their PRAYERS and OMG and someone climb 250 feet and catch this clawed animal. RELAX PEOPLE- this is what raccoons do
— Verified 1 Good Guy! (@LAmaleCA) June 13, 2018
It’s 2am. Do you know where your #mprraccoon is? 😭😰
— Melissa Alicea (@Missmouse2383) June 13, 2018
Over 153,000 watching this live #MPRraccoon feed, Zzz Goodnight from the #StateofJefferson https://t.co/tjKGX1lgr9
— Patty (@NanaPatty) June 13, 2018
This story has been updated to note the raccoon reached the roof, was trapped and was later set free.
Also on HuffPost
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.