As humans, we can’t help it to be enthralled by the unusual and the departure from the norm. This is why the Guinness Book of World Records is in existence. We can’t help but be fascinated with how people push themselves to the limit and break world records.
It’s no wonder that when a raccoon scaled a skyscraper in Minnesota, that everyone tuned it. It was odd, it was extraordinary, and it was oh so fascinating. Here’s what happened to the MPR Raccoon that captured everyone’s attention…
A Raccoon Epidemic
Many residents of Minnesota probably know that the state houses an astronomical number of raccoons. In fact, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources estimates that between 800,000 and one million raccoons live throughout the state.
Active At Night
Since raccoons sleep during the day and are awake at night, property owners rarely see them causing damages. But in the middle of the night, raccoons will raid garbage cans in search of food and many even mistake them for a stray dog. While raccoon sightings in Minnesota primarily happen at night, employees from the Minnesota Public Radio spotted a raccoon scaling a nearby skyscraper…
MPR Raccoon
On June 12, right in the middle of the workday, a daredevil raccoon in St. Paul, Minnesota, captivated the internet. The raccoon, now known as the MPR raccoon in honor of the employees who spotted him, became a social media star as viewers around the world rooted for his safe return to the ground.
The Beginning Of The Climb
Shortly before noon, three maintenance workers from the building thought they could corral the raccoon off the building by offering it a ladder to climb down from the edge. What began was the start of a mesmerizing escape…
Escaping Danger
The raccoon, unwilling to give up its climb, was also scared away by the rescuers. Being that raccoons are skilled climbers with strong claws, they will quickly run up trees to escape danger. By rotating their hind feet, they can also descend from trees headfirst.
Climbing The Building With Ease
This raccoon also may not have been a fan of ladders, so he dug his long fingernails into the building and ran to the other side, climbing higher and higher. Onlookers multiplied and news crew set up to capture the raccoon’s daring escape. Thousands tuned in to watch what would happen…
Challenges Ahead
The St. Paul raccoon continued climbing the two-story building with ease. However, it faced a bigger challenge- the UBS Plaza, a 25-story office tower, and St. Paul’s 15th tallest building. Within just minutes, the raccoon had scaled five stories.
Breaking News
Many news reporters, including Tim Nelson, a reporter at Minnesota Public Radio News, chronicled the raccoon’s adventure. He tweeted with a hashtag that became trending on Twitter. “Well, it’s out of the frying pan, into the fire for the #mprracoon.” About 10 minutes later…
Not Your Regular Raccoon
The raccoon had made it to the 12th floor, where a dark spot between two windows was more than 100 feet above the street. The New York Times wrote, “While it’s normal for raccoons to climb 20 or 30 feet, scaling a large building is very unusual.”
Attracting A Larger Audience
“That height is kind of extraordinary,” said Russell L. Burke, a biology professor at Hofstra University. By then, the raccoon reached the 15th and soon the 20th floor of the building. As it reached the higher stories, it had an even larger audience…
Onlookers
Many flooded the streets below UBS Plaza and some people even brought binoculars with them. A little girl held a raccoon stuffed animal tightly and she wouldn’t take her eyes off the real raccoon who reminded her of her fluffy toy.
Marquee
Minnesota Public Radio’s building then launched a rooftop projection flashing the breaking news, “St. Paul’s downtown raccoon reaches new heights.” All over social media, you could see employees pressing their faces against the windows hoping to catch a glimpse of the raccoon and capture it on camera…
View From The 23rd Floor
Sheila Donnelly-Coyne, a partner at Paige J. Donnelly, a St. Paul law firm, was on the 23rd floor of UBS Plaza watching the raccoon’s journey with her coworkers. It showed up on their floor at around 3 p.m. and started pacing on a thin window ledge right outside the office.
Baiting Live Traps
“He just seemed sweet and cute and very mellow,” Donnelly-Coyne said in an interview. Officials by then had even baited live traps with cat food and placed them on the roof. So many people were invested in this raccoon by now that no one wanted to see it fall…
So Many People Were Invested In The Raccoon’s Journey
They hoped that the raccoon would smell the food and lure it up another two floors. Then, three hours later, at around 9 p.m., Donnelly-Coyne was still in the office and she took a break from her work to check on the raccoon.
Trying To Trap The Raccoon
“All they could do was put enough stinky food up there to encourage him to go up to the last two floors,” she said. “We were all kind of worried he might be too tired to do so but thankfully the little guy kept going.” But at 10:30 p.m., the raccoon had a change of heart…
Started To Descend, But Changed Direction
It started to descend, down to the 18th floor and then to the 17th, before it stopped on another ledge. A photographer at Minnesota Public Radio zoomed in and saw the raccoon over the ledge. It might have even seen the crowd cheering below or realized the descent was too far down. But either way, it became scared.
Climbing Through The Night
In response, at about 2 a.m., it started to climb up again. It climbed back up to the 18th floor and then the 19th and kept going and going. By nearly 3 a.m., it made it to the top and climbed up on the floor. There, it also found the cat food outside the trap…
Finally Caught
UBS Plaza wrote on their Twitter, “After a delicious meal of soft cat food, #mprraccoon has been caught and will be picked up by Wildlife Management. Goodbye friend!” After the climb, many wondered how the raccoon could have pulled off such a stunt and why did it climb up instead of down.
A Possible Scenario
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources employee Bryan Lueth said that it may be a simple mix of instinct and anatomy. “If I had to come up with a scenario…I would say it was maybe holed up in an alley…ran out onto the sidewalk, and then there’s all these people around. It’s like ‘Ah!’ The natural instinct is to climb.” Although he did add that tree bark is definitely easier to climb than hard stone.
