He was drunk as a skunk, except for the fact that he was a raccoon. Early morning last Saturday, the critter broke into a liquor store in Ashland, Virginia and had an adventure. Bad decisions culminated in several broken bottles, alcohol spread out in puddles on the floor, and an unconscious raccoon in the store’s bathroom.
Samantha Martin, the local animal control employee that picked up the raccoon after his night out, thought the whole situation was rather amusing. “I personally like raccoons,” Martin said. “They are funny little critters. He fell through one of the ceiling tiles and went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything.”
Laughing on the way there, Martin took the sleepy raccoon back to the animal shelter to get him checked out. “Another day in the life of an animal control officer, I guess,” Martin said. Martin was commended for her handling of the situation.
According to the Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter, the raccoon was unharmed. “After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back into the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” the agency said.
However, these animals, among others, have shown signs of increasing reliance on human civilization. Raccoons, in their love for trash, have been particularly adaptable to living side-by-side with humans.
In an interview with the Guardian, Dr. Raffaela Lesch, assistant professor of biology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock discussed the behavior of these creatures. “Animals love our trash. It’s an easy source of food. All they have to do is endure our presence, not be aggressive, and they can feast on anything we throw away,” Lesch said.
A study published last year in the journal Cell by researchers found that ethanol, or ethyl alcohol, is used and consumed by animals in natural ecosystems. However, many examples have shown animals encountering alcohol by unintended means.
A year ago, a wild pig went on a rampage through Port Hedland, Australia, snagging three six-packs of beer and drinking them before picking a fight with a cow. The beer was obtained from campers, and warnings were later issued by local officials to closely guard food and drink.
Previously wild creatures have shown an increasing understanding of where human food is located and how to obtain it. Many animals like this raccoon are evolving to interact with humans and are becoming more and more ingrained in human society.
