SEATTLE \u2014 A raccoon in Seattle\u2019s Ballard neighborhood has the internet buzzing. <\/p>\n
The animal, which people are calling \u201cJimothy,\u201d has gone viral for its unique look.<\/p>\n
A viral Instagram post captured the strange-looking raccoon running through a yard. It racked up hundreds of thousands of likes and has been reposted countless times.<\/p>\n
Its key characteristic is the close spacing of its front and rear legs, which makes its torso look almost spherical. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s exciting because he is kind of like a local celebrity here in Ballard,\u201d Omar Gonzalez said. \u201cI would love to see him IRL (in real life), but I haven\u2019t yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since that post, multiple people have come forward to report sightings of the raccoon. In one clip, it is seen walking around on a deck. Other images show it drinking out of a dog bowl in a backyard and sitting in a tree.<\/p>\n
Its bizarre appearance and elusiveness have prompted some to compare it to cryptids like the chupacabra or Bigfoot.<\/p>\n
\u201cKind of has some sort of physical abnormality, kind of looks a little bit like a cryptid but very cute,\u201d Brigitte D\u2019autremont said. \u201cAlmost a little supernatural, kind of like Bigfoot or a yeti or something, becoming infamous really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many online speculate that the raccoon\u2019s strange appearance may be caused by a rare disorder called short spine syndrome. KIRO 7 brought that unofficial diagnosis to a veterinarian.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears that this raccoon, which is a local neighbor, has a congenital spine shortening disease,\u201d said Carrie Schneider of The Family Pet Veterinary Hospital. \u201cIt does look quite unusual, but it is a condition that happens in other mammals as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The creature may not be supernatural, but it is unusual enough to earn a whole neighborhood\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope he makes it,\u201d D\u2019autremont said. \u201cYou always worry about animals that are a little different like that. You want to make sure that they survive in the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n
KIRO 7 reached out to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife about the raccoon.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said they have not received any calls about the creature and that it is not clear what caused its unusual appearance.<\/p>\n
WDFW said to leave the raccoon alone if you see it, as it appears to be capable of moving and feeding itself.<\/p>\n
\u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 A raccoon in Seattle\u2019s Ballard neighborhood has the internet buzzing. The animal, which people are calling…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":940303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[27],"tags":[378671,349284,128034,563,11561,291579,378669,69643,378667,378668,425,50,159,67,132,68,989,378670,837],"class_list":["post-940302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-7_news","tag-ballard","tag-cairo","tag-instagram","tag-jack","tag-jack_b","tag-jack_be","tag-jim","tag-jimothy","tag-katt_russellman","tag-local","tag-news","tag-science","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-video","tag-washington_department_of_fish_and_wildlife","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116933304439304349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}