h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good news: The #mprraccoon has been safely trapped atop the 25-storey office building he climbed yesterday in St Paul, Minnesota. A grateful nation applauds and sighs with relief.

http://twitter.com/hashtag/MPRaccoon?src=tren&lang=en

Yesterday, Twitter erupted: the little 'trash panda' was spotted doggedly climbing the office building next to the studios of Minnesota Public Radio (hence the 'mpr' hashtag). Worried office workers posted photos whenever he stopped to rest outside their windows.

Frantic calls were made to authorities. Suggestions for trapping the climber were posted. The fire department explained patiently that they couldn't in all conscience risk a human out there, but had baited a live trap on the roof with yummy cat food. Like dogs, raccoons love cat food. They'd just have to wait until the mprraccoon got to the roof. Biologists assured everyone that raccoons were amazing climbers.

People were beside themselves with anxiety.

'If the #MPRaccoon falls on his descent, and no one is there to catch him in a fluffy warm towel, I’m holding the entire state of Minnesota responsible.'

'Come on buddy.. make it home safe.'

'If you're going through hell, take a nap, then keep going.' (Accompanied by a breathtaking photo of the raccoon ascending the concrete face of the building, surrounded by other high-rises. It's worse than the Matterhorn.)

It was an emotional experience - for the humans, not the raccoon.

'#mpraccoon made it to the top! With the week I'm having, I don't think I could have handled a different outcome.'

Twitter is interesting. I'm glad the raccoon made it okay.

For photos and videos, see http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2018/06/12/a-raccoon-is-scaling-the-side-of-a-tall-skyscraper-and-its-incredibly-stressful/?utm_term=.51206f31597d

As holocene* recolonists of the urban wilderness go, raccoons are something special.




*How to identify a holocene terrain: one which is more artifact than anything else.

They are indeed.

This story even made the online news here in South Africa! I'm glad the raccoon made it to the top … I wonder though, if it did fall, if it wouldn't maybe still have survived? Cats can fall from incredible heights and survive, because they're small and sturdy … they don't have as high a terminal velocity as humans, and flexible joints. I would say a raccoon might be comparable to a cat … still it's great that this one made it safely.

I wondered that myself, Willem - it would probably depend on the flexibility of the spine and the legs. I remember being in a museum where they demonstrated the engineering of a cat's back legs, and how it helps them spring and land.

Some people bad-mouth raccoons, but I have always loved them. They're very nice creatures, even if they *can* open trash cans.

Oh, and word has come in from the wildlife folk who gave the raccoon a physical and released it into the wild.

The raccoon is a two-year-old female. People prone to anthropomorphism are now yelling things like 'Grrl power' and such. Me, I yell 'Raccoon power!'

Probably grumbling she wasn't allowed to wreak havoc with the roof rats and park pigeons on the roof... ...and after such a climb.