Animal Control Officer Deanna Gualtieri received a voicemail Monday morning about a raccoon that had gotten her head stuck in a storm drain at the intersection of Chestnut and Lowell streets. Gualtieri said she went to the area and found the raccoon had her body below the storm drain grate and head poked through above ground.
“I don’t know how the heck she did that and I hope she never does it again,” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said she determined the raccoon to be about four months old. The Fire Department was called to lift up the storm drain and Gualtieri sedated the raccoon before removing her from the grate.
“It works a lot better when they’re sedated. They’re relaxed and you can just pull them out,” Gualtieri said.
Gualtieri said there’s a large population of raccoons in Waltham and that they like to live in hollowed-out trees or under thick bushes, but really just make due with what they can find. Gualtieri said she planned to release the raccoon in the area where she was found. She said she was going to do it Tuesday morning, but decided to wait because the raccoon was still a little “wobbly.”
(Wicked Local Waltham - July 23, 2013)
