Friend’s A group of Michigan friends have gone viral for saving a raccoon choking on a slice of cheese. The men saved the raccoon on Saturday in Burton, about 60 miles northeast of Lansing, said John Ptaszenski, whose son shared the rescue on TikTok and Instagram. The friends were gathered around a campfire early Saturday morning when the raccoon, who they’ve lovingly named “Rocket,” showed up.
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“Friend He was very reluctant and skittish at first, but realized we weren’t a threat, he got closer to us and eventually let us even pet him/her,” Ptaszynski wrote in an email to USA TODAY. The raccoon walked around and climbed up on Ptaszynski leg before wandering off about. He returned 20 minutes later and was making a “weird gesture,” Ptaszenski said. He perched up on his hind legs and opened his mouth, making odd noises. Thinking he was choking, Ptaszynski friend, Bill, began patting the raccoon’s back to help.
You’ve no doubt seen many animal rescues, from barn fires to flash floods, critters cut loose and airlifted. But this story is one-of-a-kind. “It’s an unbelievable thing to see,” John Ptaszenski told CBS News. “You know, if we didn’t catch that on camera, no one would have ever believed it. “The drama unfolded at a backyard cookout last month in Burton, Michigan, located just east of Flint. Long-time friends Ptaszenski, Tyler Whalen and Bill Messenger were just wrapping up their weekly cookout when a raccoon appeared.
The raccoon had just stolen an American single cheese slice, a harmless caper, until it became clear to everyone that this mammal had bitten off way more than it could chew. The friends noticed the raccoon “pointing at its neck, like the universal sign for choking,” Whalen said. “Right after that is when Bill just sprung into action and started hitting its back,” said Ptaszenski of the incident, which was captured on cell phone video. “…I could not believe a wild raccoon was letting him hit it in the back that hard. I was like, oh my God!”
Whalen said the raccoon was “leaning back into it, like, ‘Help me out brother! “And help the raccoon Messenger did — as the footage shows — the cheese came flying out of the mammal’s throat after he whacked him on the back. The raccoon survived and remained briefly in the backyard before slowly dawdling away. Dr. Suzanne MacDonald, an animal behavior expert from Toronto’s York University, said she has “has seen it all” and been “bitten by it all,” but she’d never seen anything like this.
“Don’t be slapping raccoons or any other animal on the back,” MacDonald said. “…But it wasn’t like he was giving him mouth-to-mouth or anything.”
MacDonald explains that a choking animal cannot bite you. But regardless, the three friends believed they had no choice.
“We all thought it was going to die,” Messenger said.
“We were pumped for that little dude,” Whalen added.
“He was one of us at that point,” Ptaszenski said.
‘An unbelievable moment’
Ptaszenski recorded while another friend coached their friend Bill, who continued trying to save the raccoon. Out came a slice of cheese, Ptaszenski said. “He had gotten into the trash from our cookout earlier that day,” he wrote. “After Rocket moves in the video you can see the cheese slice he had found laying on the ground.”
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