{"id":774246,"date":"2026-07-20T17:23:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:23:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/774246\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T17:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:23:08","slug":"jimothy-the-ballard-raccoon-with-rare-spinal-condition-goes-viral-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/774246\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimothy the Ballard raccoon with rare spinal condition goes viral worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2014 A raccoon spotted in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood – named Jimothy – has become an unlikely social media star, drawing fans from around the world after a video of him went viral over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Jimothy has a rare spinal condition that makes him look different, but his appearance has helped spark widespread affection online. The raccoon\u2019s popularity surged after being discussed on ARC Seattle on Friday morning. <\/p>\n

Jimothy’s viral fame has spilled into the real world. Jimothy was featured heavily during a recent Seattle Mariners game, including during the popular Salmon Races. Fans have also created art dedicated to Jimothy. And tattoos have appeared as the trend spread.<\/p>\n

Jimothy\u2019s reach extended to national television as well, with an appearance on CBS Evening News. During that segment, the person who posted the first viral video of Jimothy was asked why they chose the name. They answered simply: \u201cHe looks like one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Find more ARC Seattle stories on our YouTube<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

Watch ARC Seattle weekdays from 7 to 8 a.m. and 10 to 11 p.m. on KUNS, The CW Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 A raccoon spotted in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood – named Jimothy – has become an unlikely social…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[79,201],"class_list":["post-774246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}