From a raccoon’s drunken rampage to some animal magic caught on CCTV… Your weekly roundup of offbeat stories from around the world. A raccoon who broke into a US liquor store went on a booze binge and ended up face down in a drunken heap on the toilet floor. Photos of the creature spread-eagled next to the lavatory, with the aisle of the Virginia shop littered with broken whisky and vodka bottles, sent the internet wild with “That’s what you call a party animal” quips and memes.
Animal shelter staff confirmed it was not AI, and that the cheeky fellow had gone on a bender over Thanksgiving weekend. “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 to the wild,” said the Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter. Raccoons, sometimes nicknamed “trash pandas” for their cuteness and love of raiding bins for food, have long been known for their larcenous streak.
But festive binge drinking appears to be a new borrowing from humans. It sounds like something from a children’s story — an otter and a fox go for a night out in an historic English city — but that is exactly what CCTV cameras picked up in Lincoln in footage that has baffled wildlife experts and melted hearts. Security staff used to monitoring less wholesome nightlife followed the pair on their nocturnal odyssey through the city’s deserted streets and lanes, gobsmacked at the “blossoming friendship” between the two wild animals.
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Councillor Lucinda Preston said staff realised “they were watching something really special and unusual”, with Steve Nichol of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Park saying the footage had to be seen to be believed. Naturalist Mike Digler told the BBC that he had never seen or heard of a fox and an otter hanging out, calling it a “triumph of conservation”.
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