Raccoon with jar on head gets stranded up tree

Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Animal rescuers in Massachusetts dealt with a delicate situation when a raccoon with a jar stuck on its head fled up a tree in panic.

The Animal Rescue League of Boston said an animal control officer in Woburn contacted the organization on Thursday to request help with the raccoon, which had stranded itself in a high branch of a tree after getting a plastic jar stuck on its head.

"[The raccoon] appeared to be healthy and uninjured, but the jar posed a number of dangers -- induced panic from the enclosed space, inability to eat or see, and the possibility of falling out of the tree," the Animal Rescue League said.

"Climbing about 15 feet up in to the tree and using an 11-foot extension pole, ARL Senior Rescue Agent Mike Brammer essentially had to play ring-toss with the jar, positioning it just right to pull it off the raccoon's head without making him panic," the ARL said.

The group said the jar was thrown out and the raccoon was set free in the tree.