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Rhode Island raccoon rescued from sewer grate

By Daniel Uria
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Aug. 30 (UPI) -- Animal rescue crews in Rhode Island helped rescue an unlucky raccoon that had its head trapped inside a sewer grate.

The Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island shared photos Tuesday of the unfortunate raccoon that remained stuck inside the small opening, despite law enforcement's best efforts to gently pull it out.

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"The Jamestown Police and the highway department had tried to grease her up and squeeze her out, but she'd been stuck in the grate since last evening so the swelling around her head and neck was too pronounced to get her out," the association said.

Crews decided that leaving the distressed raccoon behind wasn't an option, so they lifted the grate out of the ground along with the trapped raccoon and transported it to their clinic.

"In order to get her out we first had to ice down the skin around her head and neck and also gave her some pain meds to reduce the inflammation," the association said. "It took four of us to move the grate to surgery where Dr. Bird could anesthetize and we could squeeze her head out of the grate."

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Once the raccoon was freed, rescue staff vaccinated it for various diseases and set it on the path toward recovery.

"She's still a little out of it as I'm writing this and is very clearly exhausted but we anticipate a full recovery for this lucky little girl," the association said.

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