Raccoon on-the-run for seven weeks after pals lured back to farm with hot dogs
A rogue raccoon has sparked a huge rescue mission, after spending well over a month camping out in some woodlands.
Meeko was let out of his Sunderland Training and Education Farm enclosure by a trespasser, back on December 18. Since then, he's been on the run, living out in the wilderness.
He was originally released with his two female pals, Rocket and Pinch. However, they were both successfully lured back to the enclosure by the promise of hot dogs.
Meeko has remained elusive, however, despite paw prints showing he's been back to the Sunderland farm a couple of times since his escape. He's been seen a few times around the city, but rescue charity Raccoon Rescue UK said there hadn't been a sighting in a week.
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Meeko was let out of his Sunderland Training and Education Farm enclosure by (BBC)“They are very intelligent animals,” said the charity's founder, Iain Jenkins. He told the BBC: “They are probably equivalent to a two- or three-year-old child. They will work things out… that is how they have managed to stay out for a month or so evading us.
“We’ve had several reports from around the Sunderland area but we’ve pretty much got him focused down now to one set of woodlands. That’s where our traps have been relocated as well as having one right next to where the females are.
“We’re coming into what would be the breeding season so we’re hoping he’s going to be attracted to the young ladies that are waiting for him.”
A month after escaping, Meeko the raccoon is still on the loose - but the search is narrowing (BBC)
The farm said that Meeko would continue to hide for as long as he couldSeveral traps and cameras have been placed around the woodland, in the hope that Meeko will make an appearance sooner rather than later. Iain now hopes that the changing weather will encourage him to break cover for the first time in more than seven days.
The farm said that Meeko would continue to hide for as long as he could, whereas his two pals were more predictable. He had also been described as "more of a nightmare" than the females.
Meanwhile, a missing monkey that escaped from a Scottish wildlife park was caught five days after it fled from its enclosure. The Japanese macaque managed to escape its wildlife park last month, but was eventually captured safely using a tranquilliser dart.
Highland Wildlife Park boss Keith Gilchrist said: "After a call to our hotline just after 10am our keepers and drone team made their way to a member of the public's garden where the monkey was eating from a birdfeeder and successfully used a tranquiliser dart to catch him.
"The monkey is on the way back to the park with our keepers where he will be looked over by one of our vet team and reintroduced to sub-adult males within the group."
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