This story is from volunteers Randy & Karen Inman.
 
Randy and Karen Inman had a grueling day of work and answering wild animal calls. Things had finally slowed down enough for them to go and get a bite to eat for dinner. They had finished their dinner and was on their way back home when Karen's emergency pager went off. It was a very nice man saying that he lived at Vilano Beach and for the last few days a poor raccoon had been coming into his yard and the poor thing had a soda can on her arm. She looked to be very thin and hungry and she also was having a very difficult time getting around with the can stuck on her arm. He said he had been trying to catch her for the last five days and he guessed that she was hungry enough because she finally went into a cage to get the food. He wanted to know what he could do to help her. Karen said they would be there as soon as they could.

Upon arriving to the man's home, they could see that the can was pretty beat up and it looked like it had been on her arm for a while. There was nothing they could do for her there, so she was loaded up and taken back to the facility. The problem for the Inman's was that it was late Sunday evening and there was no way a veterinarian would look at the raccoon's arm, much less do surgery to remove the can and repair the arm. Karen knew the longer the can stayed there, the more damage there was to the arm and there was no way to know how long it had been on her arm already. Karen had assisted the veterinarian in this surgical procedure before, but had not actually preformed the surgery by herself, but the raccoon needed help now. With Randy's help they decided to try it.

Karen got her sedated and Randy started cutting the can away from her arm. Once the can was removed they could see that the arm was severely damaged and swollen. Karen proceeded to get the arm and hand cleaned real good. The raccoon had to have the surgery to repair the damage to her arm as soon as possible or she could lose it, especially now that the can was removed because now it was exposed. With Randy's help, Karen was able to pull the skin together with stitches. She was put on antibiotics and they waited to see how she would do.

The entire way home after picking up the raccoon Randy kept on calling her Gracie Raccoon, so that is what we decided to call her. Gracie has done very well for the last few weeks and we will be taking her back to the nice man's home at Vilano Beach to release her in about 2 weeks. Randy and Karen Inman wish Gracie well and hope that she has learned to stay away from soda cans. We also hope that people will remember to recycle and Crush Cans so animals like Gracie don't get their arms and heads stuck in them. 

Graphic pictures of Gracie's arm after the can was removed.

Gracie after her arm has healed.