It took the efforts of ten firefighters and almost two hours to free a raccoon. The poor creature found itself in a pretty tough situation after got its head stuck in a sewer grate!
When the Newton Fire Department in Massachusetts, got a call of a trapped raccoon, they knew they had a challenging rescue upfront. The firefighters had to be very precautious as any mistake could had lead into harming the confused animal or even the crew. However, it wasn’t the first time the firefighter team had to deal with a situation like this.
“We sent our rescue company,” Capt. Eric Fricke of the Newton Fire Department told The Washington Post. “They have the tools and expertise for freeing people from things.”
Since no one knew exactly for how long the the unlucky raccoon got stuck there, it was an around the clock mission for the rescue team. It was a cyclist that spotted the distressed animal and called the authorities.
However, setting the raccoon free was harder than expected. The firemen initially used soap in order to grab the raccoon out, but it didn’t worked. So they removed the grate and after they got the approval by an animal rescue team, they sedated the animal.
We were able to rescue a juvenile raccoon today with help from Waltham’s Animal Control. He had been stuck for a while but we are happy to report he is free!!! #newtonfire #nfd #newtonma pic.twitter.com/q7CYEQCCWZ
— Newton Fire (@NewtonFireDept) August 1, 2019
“The raccoon ended up needing to be sedated so that it could relax enough, Capt. Fricke said. “It was fighting the whole process.” But in the end, after nearly two hours, the poor raccoon was finally rescued. “Everybody’s just happy that there was a positive outcome and they were able to get him out,” the captain added.
The firefighter department saluted the rescue on Twitter. “It was quite the operation,” they tweeted. “Always willing to help our 4 legged friends!,” the tweet also reads.
Always willing to help our 4 legged friends! It was quite the operation. https://t.co/wgFXzrhnWQ
— Newton Fire (@NewtonFireDept) August 1, 2019
(Credits Twiter| washingtonpost)