He may lack the poise of "Guardians of the Galaxy" superhero Rocket
Raccoon but this fur-tive little adventurer is becoming an internet star in his own right after coming off worse in an encounter with a storm grate.
The caller, a bicyclist commuting to work, had spotted a distressed young
raccoon stuck in an unfortunate position: It was firmly wedged in a sewer grate, its head poking out from one of the small square holes.
Raccoons are prone to getting into tricky spots, as they have a very curious nature and investigate environments that are unknown.
RSPCA exotics senior scientific officer Nicola White said: "
Raccoons are wild non-domesticated animals and providing for their welfare needs in a typical household environment is difficult, which is why we do not recommend them as pets.
Northern
raccoons Procyon lotor (hereafter referred to as
raccoons) are a common mammalian mesocarnivore in the United States (US) (Lotze and Anderson 1979).
Raccoons (Procyon lotor) make excellent organisms to test this hypothesis.
In Santa Barbara County, a baylisascariasis case was reported in a toddler in 2002 (1,5);
raccoon roundworm consistently infects >80% of
raccoons (6,7); and latrines are abundant in residential areas (J.F.
Kyriakos Kyriakou, Head of the Animal Party, said that wild animals such as
raccoons, can transmit diseases to humans.
The association between
raccoons and urbanization likely results from their ability to exploit human garbage as a food source given their ability to manipulate objects with their paws deftly (Whipple, 1904) and the catholic diet of the
raccoon (Gehring and Swihart, 2003).
Raccoons eat almost anything, live in many different habitats, including cities, and can climb buildings as well as trees!
Baylisascaris procyonis, predominantly found in
raccoons, is a ubiquitous roundworm found throughout North America.
AN Irish couple were attacked by "vicious"
raccoons as they were out walking their daughter's two dogs in San Francisco.
Escaped
raccoons could become real pest in Wales, a wildlife expert has warned.
I want to pass along a report from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer about
raccoons being a host for the roundworm parasite known as Baylisascaris procyonis.
