Carefree raccoon hitches a ride on the back of a garbage truck
What a day.
A raccoon who seemed to be interested in the wonders of a garbage truck ended up taking an accidental 7-mile ride on the back on Friday.
This raccoon is having a rough morning-just wanted some trash & ended up in Rosslyn!
>And yes I alerted the driver pic.twitter.com/L3y3JFBpFx— Helena Bottemiller Evich (@hbottemiller) February 17, 2017
Politico reporter Helena B. Evich snapped a picture of the poor creature gripping the ladder of the truck in Rosslyn, Virginia.
She noted in a tweet that the driver and the company, American Disposal Services, were helpful and responsive when she alerted them to the raccoon situation.
P.S. I also called the company to get the driver some help - I felt bad for the little bugger even tho raccoons are kind of the worst.
— Helena Bottemiller Evich (@hbottemiller) February 17, 2017
Also want to note that the driver was great - he was trying to figure out what to do!
— Helena Bottemiller Evich (@hbottemiller) February 17, 2017
The raccoon is doing just fine now after its little joyride.
"As soon as we found out that the raccoon was on the truck, the driver pulled over because we didn't want the raccoon to get injured," Anna Wilkinson, communications director for American Disposal Services, told ARL Now.
The raccoon was unharmed and safely got down from the vehicle, a company representative confirmed to The Huffington Post.
That wasn't the end of the creature's crazy story, though.
American Disposal Services called Falls Church animal control to handle the raccoon, but by the time they arrived, the daring beast had already made his escape.
"The raccoon avoided capture and escaped towards the Larry Graves park area," said a news release from the city of Falls Church.
Officials asked residents to contact authorities if they saw a raccoon showing signs of illness or "hitching a ride on a vehicle."
Poor, sweet trash panda.
See how people reacted to the tweet: