COURTHOUSE — City animal control responded to a call earlier this year about an injured or possibly rabid raccoon in the Malibu area of the city.
Not all was what it seemed.
The critter was in a gutter, a caller said, and its head was in a storm drain.
Animal Control Officer Steve Kemper responded. A woman approached while he was circling around the spot.
“Man, that raccoon is drunk,” she said.
“What do you mean drunk?” he replied.
Indeed, she meant exactly that — drunk.
In its cups. Plastered. Intoxicated.
She pointed to an empty can of Not Your Fathers Root Beer, a craft beer, by way of explanation.
The raccoon had discovered the beer someone left along the street.
Kemper soon located the sloshed suspect, who was hard to miss on account of all the wobbling. He said the animal tried to flee authority, seeking shelter in a tree.
“He got probably 10 or 12 feet up and fell,” Kemper said.
After that, its demeanor was more subdued.
“He appeared to be just absolutely hammered,” Kemper said.
It’s the first time Kemper has had such a call, but he said citizens should contact animal control whenever they have concerns about an animal’s behavior.
The critter was placed in a trap and taken to a wooded area where it could recover away from traffic.
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