A festive raccoon captured the hearts of Christmas market-goers after drinking a bit too much mulled wine. However, the creature has since been shot dead.
The tipsy mammal was spotted stumbling around the seasonal market in the central German city of Erfurt on Saturday, December 7.
As chuckling onlookers took photos, the raccoon took little heed of the attention, ending his daytime binge by passing out in a doorway.
Check out the local news report of the raccoon’s drunken antics below:
A police spokesperson from Erfurt told news outlet DW the furry creature was ‘obviously intoxicated’, although he joked ‘a breathalyser test on the animal was not carried out’.
The animal had reportedly been drinking leftover mulled wine out of spare cups left sitting around at the Erfurt markets.
A security guard kept an eye on the raccoon until the fire brigade came and took him away in a cage – but what happened next was far less amusing.
Local media reported the raccoon was taken to an animal shelter. However, as per euronews, a city spokesman said authorities had no choice but to shoot the animal, as setting it free would be against German laws.
Animal rescue SWE Tierheim Erfurt tweeted:
Unfortunately, the story of the drunken raccoon did not have a happy ending. The city hunter took him away and shot him dead.
In Germany, raccoons are considered an invasive pet that may be hunted. However, the animal’s death has sparked a furious public outcry.
One Twitter user said:
What a bad solution. Why do that? How cruel and callous can people be doing something like that. Everyone who is involved and who has contributed to the decision should be immediately relieved of their profession and only be allowed to scratch gum from the sidewalk.
Raccoons may be cute, but they are by no means a traditional pet. In the wild, they’re often associated with aggression and diseases like rabies, however when domestically trained, they can be ferociously cute creatures.
However, there have been numerous accounts of raccoons acting perfectly domesticated until they reach an older age, where they then turn on their owners.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.