SARASOTA – It was a daring rescue all caught on tape.
“On channel marker 13 there was an apparently a little masked bandit that was, we don’t know how he got up there or anything, but he was just sort of chilling up there,” said Ron Dixon, Sarasota Police Water Patrol.
Officers say it was just after noon when MOTE Marine Lab was out on patrol tending to an injured sea turtle when they saw the furry bandit stranded.
“We got closer, the girls from MOTE assured us that he was not that energetic at the time, but that turned out to not be the case,” said Dixon.
It took SPD Water Patrol and Florida Fish and Wildlife two attempts to safely secure the raccoon.
“We were trying to climb up this channel marker to grab him he wasn’t gonna have anything to do with that,” said Dixon.
Sarasota Police say the rescue took about 30 minutes to get the raccoon back on land.
Justin Matthews with Matthews Wildlife Rescue encourages people to call officials whenever dealing with wild animal rescues and to not attempt it on your own.
“The thing to do if you’re dealing with, especially mammals, mammals that could possibly carry rabies,” said Matthews. “You need to just keep an eye on them, try not to touch them, don’t try to catch them just call someone that is experienced.”
The raccoon was set free back on dry land without even thanking the officers for their help.
