Video of daredevil raccoon crossing wires goes viral

11 Apr 2013

A video of an enterprising raccoon getting around by gripping power lines and telephone cables and shimmying across them in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is the latest critter video to go viral online.

Mavis Knight filmed the raccoon’s high-wire act on her phone last week and her husband’s co-worker Peter Buban posted the footage on YouTube. To date, the video has attracted nearly 350,000 views, and has been featured on TV networks, such as CNN, and websites worldwide.

Knight provides some narration in the video as the raccoon inches its way across the wires, gripping a top wire with its forepaws and bottom wire with its hindpaws.

“He’s going, he going … oh dear,” she says when he pauses halfway across.

Knight told the Toronto Star she thought if she told her husband about the raccoon he’d never believe her, which is why she filmed the creature in action.

“I was a little worried about (the raccoon) but he seemed to be doing whatever he needed to do to get to the other side,” she said.

Knight added that she first saw the raccoon attempt to cross the wires last week. There used to be trees that it may have used to cross over before, but they were chopped down last year, the Toronto Star reported her as having said.

Raccoons are not uncommon in Toronto, and can drive residents round the bend by digging into their lawns and tearing open their rubbish sacks in search of a snack.

Watch the ‘Clever little raccoon walking across some phone wires’ video here:

 

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com