A raccoon found in Plymouth with an arrow lodged through her face is recovering at a wildlife hospital in Barnstable after local animal control spent roughly a week trying to catch her. X-rays showed the arrow passed through her face and out the back of her head, missing her eye and sinus cavity and leaving her skull unfractured.
A Week-Long Chase Before Treatment Could Begin
The first challenge was catching the raccoon. After a Plymouth resident called the Cape Wildlife Center for help, staff advised contacting local animal control because the animal was mobile and outdoors, Popular Science reported. Plymouth Animal Control tracked her for about a week before catching her, according to the outlet.
At the Barnstable center, staff sedated the raccoon in her cage before handling her to reduce stress, the same account reported. Dr. Priya Patel, the center's medical director and a wildlife veterinarian, described her as feisty despite her injury.
X-Rays Reveal the Arrow’s Path
X-rays showed the arrow had passed through the raccoon's face and exited the back of her head without hitting her eye or sinus cavity or fracturing her skull, according to the report. Staff removed the arrow, cleaned the wound, applied antibiotic ointment and began a course of antibiotics.
At the time of the report, the raccoon was recovering at the center. Staff expected her to remain there until the wound healed and she completed antibiotics, then planned to return her to the wild; a release has not been confirmed.
Other Cape Cod Raccoons Have Needed Rescuing Too
Several reports appear to describe the same storm-drain rescue, rather than separate incidents. In August, Bourne emergency personnel brought a young raccoon with its head wedged in a grate to the Cape Wildlife Center, grate and all. Staff freed him in about 10 minutes using canola oil and plastic garbage bags, Boston.com reported. The Cape Cod News described a juvenile raccoon rescued from a grate in Pocasset and later released in Bourne, while Yahoo News reported that a young male freed from a storm-drain grate was turned over to Bourne Natural Resources and released near where he was found. The reports appear to recount the same rescue, though they differ in some details.
What Plymouth Residents Should Know About Wildlife Calls
For residents who spot injured wildlife, the Town of Plymouth's Animal Control office says it will evaluate the animal and, if necessary, arrange transport to the Cape Wildlife Center, noting it is the only facility of its kind nearby if the center happens to be closed or unable to take in new animals, according to Town of Plymouth.
What Plymouth’s Hunting Guidance Says
The Town of Plymouth says it has no bylaw regulating hunting, so state laws, rules and regulations apply. Its guidance does not specify whether or where bows or crossbows may be discharged within town limits, and it does not establish how the raccoon was injured, according to the Town of Plymouth.
