#MPRraccoon was removed from the roof of the UBS building in downtown St. Paul and released into the wild early Wednesday afternoon. ST. PAUL, Minn. - MPR Raccoon, whose death-defying climb captured the attention of people across the world, was removed from the UBS roof and released into the wild early Wednesday afternoon. A crew from pest control company Wildlife Management Services of Brooklyn Park released the 1-year-old female raccoon around 1 p.m. Wednesday on private land in the southwest suburbs. The pest control company removed the raccoon from the UBS roof around 10 a.m. Minnesota Public Radio News reporter Tim Nelson, who has been covering this story since Monday, tweeted shortly after 7 a.m. Wednesday that building management told Paige Donnelly Law Office that the trap set up on the building's roof had successfully captured the little raccoon. — Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 13, 2018 The raccoon became stranded on a ledge of the Town Square office building earlier, according to Nelson of MPR News. This poor raccoon apparently got itself stranded on a ledge of the Town Square office building in downtown St. Paul, likely on an errant mission to raid pigeon nests on the skyway over 7th Street. It's been there for two days now, without food or water. @mprnews pic.twitter.com/fVI5pmdCWq — Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018 On Tuesday, building maintenance workers were able to get the little guy to move, but he unfortunately took a more dangerous route, climbing UBS Tower next door. He made a run for it! Still stuck though. pic.twitter.com/8Z7KTK8K1y — Evan Frost (@efrostee) June 12, 2018 I don't know if I can watch this much longer. The #mprraccoon is scaling the UBS Tower. Now 12 stories up. pic.twitter.com/MaP35MLo9j — Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018 By midday Tuesday, the raccoon was 12 stories up the tower. And around 12:30 p.m., Pioneer Press reporter Tad Vezner captured a couple of shots of the raccoon apparently taking a nap on the other side of the window. Oh nothing just a raccoon hanging out on the 22nd floor of UBS Plaza downtown. pic.twitter.com/XaXE9XExxD — Tad Vezner (@SPnoir) June 12, 2018 MPR News branded the courageous climbing coon #MPRraccoon. By 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, it was resting 23 stories up. He is on the ledge on our floor. He seems to be doing well. We’ve been told that the building has live traps on the roof and are trying to get him to go up there. We all just have to keep our fingers crossed.. #mprraccoon pic.twitter.com/HY1PkuFKz0 — Paige Donnelly law (@donnelly_law) June 12, 2018 Laurie Brickley, St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspection spokesperson, confirmed Tuesday evening that traps were set on the roof. “Any other measures we think would endanger him. We’re hoping he continues his climb,” she said. By 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, the raccoon did make it onto the roof of the UBS Tower. At that point, the lure of cat food apparently enticed it into the trap. Whatever fate awaits the wild creature, it's now achieved whatever level of fame an animal hits when it gets multiple Twitter accounts. I made a big mistake. #mprraccoon — The St. Paul Raccoon (@TheStPaulRacco1) June 12, 2018 KARE 11's Lindsey Seavert was there keeping tabs on #MPRraccoon.<doc-sep>The moment that the MPR Raccoon triumphantly reached the top of St. Paul’s UBS Tower at around 2:50am local time in Minnesota Gif : KARE 11 The MPR Raccoon has safely made it to the roof. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you missed quite a day on Twitter yesterday. Advertisement Twitter users were captivated yesterday while watching the perilous journey of a small raccoon as it scaled a 23-story office tower in St. Paul, Minnesota. Local reporters at Minnesota Public Radio dubbed it the #MPRraccoon and many people went to bed last night unsure of the little critter’s fate. And while we’re still waiting on word about whether animal control has successfully captured it, at least the poor raccoon isn’t pulling any more Spider-Man hijinks. Or Mission Impossible hijinks, as it were. Update: MPR Raccoon is safe and has been captured on the roof! The raccoon was first spotted on Monday in downtown St. Paul near the Town Square building just a couple of stories up. On Tuesday, maintenance workers tried to coax it down, but the raccoon became frightened and started scaling the side of the nearby UBS Tower. Advertisement Office workers in the UBS building started posting photos on Twitter to provide updates as they saw the raccoon scale the skyscraper. The animal was clearly hungry and tired, but kept climbing anyway. By evening, the journey of the MPR raccoon had become an internet sensation with write-ups around the globe. Social media users had become heavily invested in the fate of this little guy. Advertisement Local TV news station KARE11 in Minnesota started streaming the raccoon’s movements and MPR was constantly updating its story throughout the day on Twitter and Facebook. By the time it had reached the 23rd floor, people weren’t sure if it was going to make it to the roof. As MPR’s Tim Nelson reports, animal control officers put a live trap on the roof with aromatic food so that once it made its way up there it could be captured and safely brought down to the ground. As you can see from the livestream video by local TV news station KARE 11, MPR Raccoon reached the top of the building at around 2:50am local time in Minnesota. But we’re still waiting for any word on what condition the raccoon might be in. Advertisement The raccoon gave people something to root for, but it sure was a perilous journey. If something bad happened to that raccoon now I think we’d all just have to crawl back into bed for the day. Advertisement We’ll update this post when we know more from St. Paul Animal Control. [MPR and KARE 11] Update, 8:45am: UBS Plaza just tweeted a photo of MPR Raccoon! The little guy is safe and will be picked up by Wildlife Management! Advertisement What a relief! Update, 9:35am: Apparently the raccoon is still on top of the roof, but is eating and will reportedly be released “somewhere safe” soon. Advertisement Update, 11:21am: MPR reporter Tim Nelson has some more updates from UBS Tower: Advertisement<doc-sep>A raccoon that appeared to be stranded on a ledge after climbing more than 20 stories of a high-rise office building in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota, has made it to the roof, easing concerns that the animal could plummet to its death. Onlookers and reporters tracked the raccoon's progress Tuesday as it scaled the UBS Tower. By early Wednesday, the animal made it to the roof, where St. Paul Animal Control had placed cat food and a trap in hopes of enticing the animal to safety. The raccoon's adventures caused a stir on social media, with many Twitter users voicing concern for its safety or joking about the drama surrounding the animal's exploits. Minnesota Public Radio, from a building less than a block away, branded the raccoon #mprraccoon. Alicia Lewis tweet Tim Nelson tweet Keith Schubert tweet Twitter Moments tweet Coast 101.1 tweet Kristine tweet<doc-sep>
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A raccoon that captivated St. Paul and the internet Tuesday while scaling a skyscraper was starting to make its way down late Tuesday night, CBS Minnesota reports. Tuesday afternoon, the raccoon had stopped on a ledge more than 20 stories up. At about 10:30 p.m. CT, the raccoon began to descend from the 23rd floor, making it to the 17th story. But at some point, the critter reversed course again, apparently climbing from a window ledge to the very top, and was on the roof, out of sight. There was no word on whether it made its way to a live trap on the roof with some very aromatic cat food it was hoped would lure the raccoon to safety. View image on Twitter It all started at about 11 a.m. Tuesday when Minnesota Public Radio reporter Tim Nelson noticed the fuzzy friend trapped on an overhang near the bottom of the UBS Building in downtown St. Paul, CBS Minnesota reports. "The maintenance staff came out with some two-by-fours screwed together and pushed them up to the raccoon, thinking that he would run down the boards onto the street and escape," Nelson said. But when raccoons get scared, their instinct is to go up — and that is exactly what this one did. Looking like a smaller, hairier version of Spiderman, the raccoon was able to scale almost the entire building, finally stopping to rest outside the Paige Donnelly Law Firm on the 23rd floor. "We have seen him pace back and forth and sniff, but he hasn't moved," attorney Sheila Donnelly-Coyne told CBS Minnesota. "He might just be tuckered out from the climb right now." There is not a whole lot that St. Paul Animal Control can do because a rescue mission would be too dangerous for both the raccoon and the workers. "This raccoon has to rescue itself," Nelson said. "That's the only option right now." Minnesota Public Radio branded the raccoon with the hashtag #mprraccoon, which became the top trend on Twitter. The woodland creature also had its own Twitter account, with one tweet saying, "I made a big mistake." Many feared for the raccoon's safety. The #mprraccoon is doing a little grooming now that he's a social media star. You know, on a 23rd floor window ledge. @MPRnews pic.twitter.com/pGcwh7OJ6L — Tim Nelson (@timnelson_mpr) June 12, 2018