Raccoons may enjoy rubbish, but they shouldn’t actually be dưmреd.
The animal at the core of this tale should have understood the lesson by now.
One morning last week, a concerned citizen in the town of Gibsons, British Columbia, spotted something in her yard that she couldn’t ignore. There, lying curled up and seemingly paralyzed, was a raccoon in distress.
Fearing that the animal had been injured, she called the Gibsons Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre — a rеscuе facility run by Irene Davy and her husband, Clint. Soon, help was on the way.
“We thought he might’ve been hit by a vehicle,” Irene told The Dodo. “Clint went to check on him. He found him lying dazed; the raccoon could open its eyes, but he couldn’t move, stand or walk.”
Believing the raccoon may have suffered a serious spinal injury, Clint transported him to the Sechelt Animal Hospital. But after an examination, vets came to a surprising conclusion: The raccoon wasn’t injured. He was stoned.
Indeed, testing had shown the presence of both marijuana and benzodiazepines, a class of pharmaceuticals that includes Xanax-likе anxiety pills.
“He was fine. Simply put, he was somewhat drugged up “Added Irene. “We have no way of knowing where he obtained the medications, although I’ve heard that dogs occasionally pick up items when out for walks. It may have been a pot cookie or muffin that was discarded. Exactly what?”
The therapy was luckily rather straightforward even though this was the first time the rеscuе center had to deal with a drug-impaired wild animal.
