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The winner of the 2024 Cadbury Bunny Tryouts is a 2-year-old raccoon named Louie, The Hershey Company announced in an Instagram post on Tuesday, March 26. "Louie is a two-year-old raccoon from Miami, Florida, who was rescued by his owner Jaime in 2021 after he had been deemed unfit to live in the wild," said the Instagram post. Louie, who is often found "lounging in his favorite tree," is also a philanthropist, said the post. "Using his toe-painting skills," he creates art — which is then sold to raise money for wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centers.

I have always loved stories of people who rescued or cared for wounded animals and ended up making them a permanent part of their family; this story is no exception. Stacy J Rost (@StacyRost), a Seattle sports radio host, has captured millions of hearts after posting about her parents’ experiences caring for and spiritually adopting a little raccoon named ‘Little Rick’ on X. “My parents had to put their dog down two years ago, and it’s been really hard on them,” wrote Stacy in her most viral post about Little Rick. “Unfortunately, my stepdad, Rick, has found the worst way...

VIDEO AT LINK.......................... Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A Florida woman took out her phone and started recording when a trio of masked bandits stole her DoorDash taco order from in front of her door. Caterina Sevares said she opened the front door of her West Palm Beach apartment to retrieve her DoorDash order from Talkin' Tacos, but she instead came face to face with three raccoons who were enjoying her late-night meal. "My jaw dropped," Sevares told WOFL-TV. Sevardes took out her phone and recorded video of the scene, which she posted to TikTok. "Once they started hissing, I shut...

A new analysis of genetic information conducted by an international group of researchers has found evidence to suggest that COVID-19 originated from infected animals sold at a market in Wuhan, China. As first reported by The Atlantic, French evolutionary biologist Florence Débarre recently uncovered genetic data from the global virology database GISAID. The data had been submitted by Chinese researchers who collected the genetic sequences from the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, which has been scrutinized as being the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the name, thousands mammals were found to have been sold at the market, where they were...

A 31-year-old man in Florida was arrested for allegedly holding a sewing needle to his neighbor’s neck and threatening to kill him before nearly beating his roommate’s raccoon to death with a hammer. Tevin Keason Williams was taken into custody last week and charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of aggravated animal cruelty, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show. Each of the charges against Williams are third-degree felonies punishable by a maximum five years in state prison. According to a sworn probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, deputies with the Lake County...

Startling surveillance video shows a raccoon attacking a 5-year-old girl in Connecticut. Rylee MacNamara's mother heard the screams of terror and raced to the rescue. They didn't know if the raccoon was rabid - but it was aggressive. The chaotic scene unfolded Friday morning in Ashford - just east of Hartford. "I was going out to get on the bus and a raccoon was there and it tried to attack me," said Rylee. Rylee's mom was swinging the animal around and warning neighbors to keep their distance. Then, using all her might, she flung the critter into her front yard....

A Florida woman might have proof of that. Cristina Ryan told WOFL-TV that she caught a glimpse of a "baby dinosaur" running through her yard on a home security camera. Advertisement "Maybe I've watched 'Jurassic Park' too many times, but I see a raptor or other small dinosaur!" she told the TV station. People who have seen the video have various theories about what the animal may be — perhaps a bird, a lizard or a dog dragging a leash? It's more likely that whatever it was will remain a mystery.

White House reporters are used to getting attacked as "fake news" these days, but on Monday several were reportedly "attacked" in a whole new way: by an angry raccoon. In an incident that sparked viral jokes on Twitter, CBS's Paula Reid said a raccoon on the White House lawn had "attacked multiple news crews." "Strong Pawnee vibes at White House this morning as a raccoon attacked multiple news crews on North Lawn. allegedly grabbed pant leg of a photographer & then a corespondent [sic] before being fended off," she tweeted, referring to the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind. from the...

.Black Lives Matter supporters ran over a raccoon twice before beating it to death with a baseball bat and posting it online in a horrific act of animal cruelty. The incident took place in New York City, as onlookers watched and cheered.

A profanity-laced video...shows a man sitting calmly next to the table with the raccoon, and blood pooling from the raccoon’s mouth..."The guy came in screaming, 'Help, help, help!' " Brooks said, according to SFGate. "He came to the counter, and I thought it was a dog at first. The employees told him to leave and he went and sat down with it."

A rabid raccoon ran rampant in Northwest D.C. on Sunday morning, attacking three people and two pets who now require preventive treatment for the dangerous viral infection.

For whoever called the cops after they confused an innocent little trash panda for a killing machine. Early Thursday morning, a New York City neighborhood went on red alert after someone called the cops to report a tiger was roaming the streets of Washington Heights, NBC New York reports. A news chopper descended on the neighborhood frantically looking for the fanged beast, while reporters and police scrambled to track it down on the ground. Denizens scanned Citizen, a crime-reporting app, looking for any update on where the bloodthirsty creature might be. At the end of a harrowing 20 minutes, the...

Raccoon Roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis) Raccoon Roundworms (Baylisascaris procyonis) may be the perfect biological weapon. The common raccoon is the primary host for this parasite.  Not only have urban areas been a windfall for raccoon populations, but the closer proximity facilitates the raccoon-to-raccoon transmission of this worm. Typical rural habitat might contain 10 raccoons per square mile.  Prime, bottomland habitat might support 20 raccoons per square mile.  Urban habitats have been documented as holding 130-to-390 raccoons per square mile.  And, of course, urban habitats increase the exposure of humans to raccoon poop. Baylisascaris procyonis  The adult worm on the left is...

A live interview on Wednesday's Morning Edition with Carl Paladino, an honorary co-chairman of Donald Trump's New York campaign, left some listeners feeling as though they had tuned in to talk radio and not NPR. Paladino — an outspoken real estate developer from Buffalo, N.Y., whose controversial statements and actions drew press scrutiny when he was running as the Republican candidate for governor of New York in 2010 — was in the middle of a fairly routine post-election interview about his candidate's win when he suddenly veered into an unbridled attack on President Barack Obama. The set-up question from host...

They just can't help themselves. So much for the 'kinder gentler more presidential' Trump campaign. They couldn't keep that up for 24 hours. (SNIP) “It doesn’t matter what kind of person is the exterminator, they want the raccoons out of the basement,” he declared.

Yes, this is funny. Have a great weekend!Dead Raccoon

OCALA, Fla. — A Palatka, Florida, man says he snapped a picture of a raccoon on top of an alligator in the Ocala National Forest on Saturday morning. Richard Jones said he and his family were walking along the Oaklawaha River watching alligators when his son walked through some palm fronds to get a good picture.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- William Shakespeare asked "What's in a name?" It means plenty of controversy if you are referring to Coonskin Park. The head of the Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, retired state Adj. Gen. Allen Tackett, wants to rename the park after Kanawha County Commissioner Hoppy Shores, who was just elected to his seventh term. The park's name is is generally associated with a type of a fur cap made from a raccoon skin, but Tackett said the term could be offensive to others. The commission is set to discuss the name change at a Thursday meeting.

In an incident eerily similar to an eyeglass-store commercial, an 88-year-old woman was attacked Sunday night by a raccoon she accidentally let into her home and then tried to pet, thinking it was her cat, according to police...

Mark "Coonrippy" Brown says "This is all about the raccoon." A Tennessee man who lost his pet raccoon after a video of him showering with his other raccoon went viral on YouTube is running for governor in order to get back his faithful companion.Mark “Coonrippy” Brown will take on Governor Bill Haslam in the Republican primary this August in a bid that he hopes will get Rebekah away from state wildlife officials and back into his arms."This is all about the raccoon," Brown said.The 55-year-old claims that a permit request he sent to Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency officials went unanswered...