Maple Ridge raccoon revived with Narcan after suspected fentanyl poisoning

Ashley Bennett is utilized to seeing raccoons successful her Maple Ridge, B.C., yard.

However, a caller incidental has near her shaken.

Bennett moved into the location with her household successful 2020 and recovered the raccoons erstwhile they dismantled a deck.

She said they person co-existed since then, with a regularisation for each household subordinate not to interaction oregon provender the animals.

They’ll really beryllium connected the histrion and the dogs volition beryllium successful the backyard,” Bennett said.

“There’s nary growling, there’s nary snarling, there’s nary nothing… If I don’t spot them for 24 hours, that’s suspicious. They are ever around.”

Bennett had conscionable returned from the schoolhouse tally past week erstwhile she recovered the ma and a babe raccoon unconscious, with 1 of the babies sleeping connected the furniture.

She came extracurricular and said the small raccoon didn’t disturbance astatine all.

“Its ears didn’t flutter, not anything, which is beyond uncommon,” Bennett said.

“So I benignant of tiptoed up to it and nothing. And I began benignant of poking it and scratching it connected the caput a small spot and it was wholly silent.”

She called Critter Care Wildlife Society but they were not unfastened truthful she called Dr. Adrian Walton astatine the Dewdney Animal Hospital.

He said she could bring the raccoon in.

“I took my feline retired of its banana container that it sleeps successful and picked up this raccoon, which was wholly lifeless, flopped it into my arms and backmost into the box,” Bennett said.

“And I conscionable carried the container out. I couldn’t find a feline transportation case. I couldn’t find a kennel, anything.”

When she arrived astatine the vet, Walton took the babe into an introspection country and Bennett said that what happened adjacent was wild.

“I wasn’t successful the country but starting from the outside, it was 30 seconds of soundlessness to afloat chaos,” she said.

“There was solid breaking, nutrient falling connected the floor, what sounded similar shelves being cleared off. People were not yelling, but you could perceive the panic successful the room.”

Walton said erstwhile the babe arrived astatine the session it was comatose.

“It was ace cold. His bosom complaint was ace low. Its pupils were dilated. We were importantly disquieted that this happening was dying arsenic we spoke.”

Walton said helium didn’t cognize what had happened to the raccoon but helium was rapidly capable to regularisation retired poison and different toxins owed to the animal’s deficiency of symptoms.

“So 1 of the things we started reasoning of was fentanyl,” helium said.

“We decided to bash a reversing agent, a.k.a. the veterinary mentation of Narcan.”

Walton said that created a absorption helium was not expecting.

“The adjacent happening we know, we person this raccoon rampaging astir the session and each of america are trying to herd it into an exam country truthful that we could really get it confined,” helium said.

Trending Now

Walton and his unit scrambled to find a lawsuit successful which to enactment the animal.

“By the clip we got backmost to the exam room, it had fundamentally knocked down each solid instrumentality we had and was trying to ascent up our machine surface into this small nook that is successful our exam rooms,” Walton said.

“And if we had gotten successful there, we were not going to get it retired easily.”

Donning protective gear, the unit were capable to drawback the small feline and commencement to enactment it into the cage.

“At which constituent it walked close in, turned around, grabbed the doorway by his manus and unopen it,” Walton said.

“It’s like, ‘I’ve had capable of this’.”

They gave the raccoon Narcan again, sent him location with Bennett and Walton said they were prepared to spell to Bennett’s location astatine the extremity of the time to administer Narcan to the remainder but luckily that was not needed.

While this is the archetypal raccoon they person revived with Narcan, Walton said implicit the past 18 years they person dealt with an summation successful the fig of animals, mostly pets, that person consumed narcotics.

But successful this case, helium said they judge it was fentanyl owed to the effect to Narcan.

“There are different drugs that it could person gone into that they would besides retrieve with stimulation, but we had an carnal that went from truly lethargic to wide awake aft Narcan application,” Walton said.

Bennett said the babe continued to slumber successful her backyard for astir 48 hours aft she brought it home.

“I’m blown distant that it is this adjacent to location retired wherever we are,” she said. “I ne'er thought so. My kids locomotion to school. We person dogs we walk. This is devastating.”

She said each the raccoons person been backmost since and are accounted for and she hopes determination are nary further incidents.

“I’ve grown truthful fond of these guys, and I deliberation that anybody who knows maine knows however overmuch I really adore them,” Bennett said.

“So it was truly sad. I was truly panicked astir it.”