When a Seattle woman shared a video sighting of a neighbourhood raccoon with a unique appearance online, the last thing she said she expected was for the street critter, affectionately named “Jimothy” by its watchful keepers, to win the hearts of millions, according to local media.
Jimothy the raccoon has a spinal deformity, leaving him with a notably truncated neck, according to Kiana Hall, who posted footage of the animal scurrying across a patch of grass last week.
Speaking to The Seattle Times, Hall said she wasn’t sure what she was looking at when she first spotted the animal teetering around.
“I got very confused at what I was seeing. I just have never seen any other animal like it,” she told the outlet, adding that she was thrilled when her five-second clip of Jimothy racked up millions of views.
“I think times have been hard for everyone, so I’m really happy to have posted something online that reaches so many people and makes them so happy.”
Within hours of posting the video, it began going viral, racking up millions of views in less than a day. By Tuesday afternoon, it had almost eight million views and more than 400,000 likes.
Hall, 33, was on a walk with her partner in the northwest part of Seattle at about 8:30 p.m. Monday when she saw what she assumed was a cat hiding under a car, she told the outlet, but instead captured the round-backed, grey furry creature with longer than usual legs and a lobbed tail emerge from beneath the vehicle.
A resident in the area where Jimothy was spotted caught wind of the viral video and shared on the r/Seattle subReddit that their security cameras had also picked up the creature mulling around on their balcony last month.
It seems Jimothy has been a pillar of the community for some time. Another video shared by an Instagram user named Ben Trammell appears to capture Jimothy as a baby traversing a fence with a gaggle of family members.
“He was so small and clumsy but his mother and siblings were always so patient and caring, keeping him from falling and sometimes just carrying him,” Trammell wrote in the caption.
Since attaining viral internet fame, Jimothy has been recognized by the Seattle Mariners as an honourary mascot, with a person dressed as a raccoon joining the team’s seventh-inning Salmon Run.
The Mariners also posted a joke video of Jimothy running across the baseball field at T-Mobile Park with the caption “Jimothy spotted at batting practice.”
It’s not clear what caused Jimothy’s condition, but Marcie Logsdon, an associate professor at Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, told the Seattle Times that the raccoon likely has a congenital deformity of the spine.
As for the critter’s name, Hall told the Today Show in an interview that she and her husband came up with it.
“He just looked like a ‘Jimothy’ to me,” she said. “I don’t have any other explanation other than I looked at him and he looked like a ‘Jimothy.’”
Based on reporting by Global News.