{"id":459876,"date":"2026-03-06T01:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459876\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T01:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T01:54:11","slug":"frostbitten-animal-shivers-on-city-sidewalk-then-kind-neighbors-step-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/459876\/","title":{"rendered":"Frostbitten Animal Shivers On City Sidewalk \u2014 Then Kind Neighbors Step In"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago, a group of Philadelphia residents found a sick raccoon wandering around their neighborhood. The animal appeared to have lost almost all of his fur and was suffering from some kind of skin infection.<\/p>\n

The neighborhood community was determined to help the struggling raccoon, whom they nicknamed Benito. They worked together to try to trap him, but he kept escaping their grasp. Finally, after 10 days, they were able to lure him into a carrier and transport him to Raven Ridge Wildlife Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Raven Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

When Benito first arrived at Raven Ridge, the staff members couldn\u2019t believe how badly he was doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just horrified by what I was seeing,\u201d Tracie Young, founder of Raven Ridge Wildlife Center told The Dodo.<\/p>\n

It was clear that Benito was suffering from an extreme case of mange. The severity of his infection was most likely caused by him ingesting rodenticides, which would\u2019ve weakened his immune system. As a result of the mange, Benito\u2019s skin was coated in a painful, black crust.<\/p>\n

Raven Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

\u201cThe buildup of mange and everything else was almost like a thin cement shell,\u201d Young said. \u201cThe pieces were so thick, we couldn\u2019t even break them in half. It was like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benito had been stuck outside in the cold Pennsylvania winter with no fur to keep him warm, so in addition to the mange, he was shivering and covered in frostbite.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first goal was to just get him warm and comfortable,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

Raven Ridge got him started on mange medication, pain relievers, antibiotics and topical wound treatments. Once those started to kick in, he got a medicated bath, which washed away most of the scabs and sores on his skin.<\/p>\n

Raven Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just looked so much better after we dried him off,\u201d Young said. \u201cNow the skin is healthy, and that gives a chance for the fur to start growing back.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been just three weeks since Benito was brought into Raven Ridge, and already, he looks unrecognizable. The rescue team will continue to treat and monitor Benito, and will transfer him to an outdoor enclosure when he\u2019s regrown a bit more of his coat.<\/p>\n

\u201c[H]e can start getting acclimated to the weather and he can start to really stretch those legs and climb and just be a raccoon,\u201d Young said.<\/p>\n

Raven Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

Once Benito is ready, Raven Ridge will release him back to his natural habitat, where he belongs. Thanks to the community who never gave up on him and to the rescue staff who\u2019ve cared for him tirelessly, Benito will get a second chance.<\/p>\n

If you’d like to support Raven Ridge, you can make a donation here<\/a>.\"Woman<\/a>Woman Opens Heavy Box By Dumpster And Can’t Believe How Many Animals Are InsideShe was speechless.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few weeks ago, a group of Philadelphia residents found a sick raccoon wandering around their neighborhood. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":459877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[36148,5439,90793,90,5438,5436,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-459876","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-alana-francis-crow","9":"tag-daily-dodo","10":"tag-raccoons","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-standard","13":"tag-the-dodo","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/459877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}