It’s not quite Spider-Man, but this masked, high-climbing creature has captivated people in Minnesota. A raccoon was spotted on Tuesday morning climbing the side of the UBS Plaza in St. Paul. When maintenance workers tried to rescue the raccoon by offering it a ladder to climb down, the raccoon simply scurried to another side of the building and climbing higher and higher. The incident has stirred locals and raccoon enthusiasts on social media, many of whom have posted pictures or videos of the creature’s climb.

 

Raccoons are skilled climbers, with powerful claws that allow them to rapidly scale trees to escape danger. Apparently, this skill translates to buildings as well — the St. Paul raccoon seems to have climbed the 25-story office tower with relative ease. It’s normal for a raccoon to climb to heights of 20 or 30 feet, but scaling a large building like this is quite unusual. By the time the raccoon reached the building’s upper stories, a sizeable audience had gathered below, with binoculars, signs, and even stuffed raccoon. A marquee on Minnesota Public Radio’s building across the street flashed: “St. Paul’s downtown raccoon reaches new heights.”

At around 10:30 PM, the raccoon apparently had enough of climbing and started to descend, stopping at the 17th floor to rest. Refreshed and with renewed energy, the raccoon resumed its quest for the summit the following morning reaching the roof around 2:45 AM, where it was caught in a trap set by Wildlife Management Services.

 

By the time the Wildlife Management Services team reached the raccoon, she was tired and had drank a lot of water — wouldn’t you, if you just climbed 25 stories? They brought the raccoon out of the city and released her into the wild, thus ending the epic 24-hour spectacle that captivated the city of St. Paul.

H/T: The New York Times

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