A Virginia liquor store employee found smashed whisky bottles and a drunk raccoon sprawled in the bathroom after it fell through a ceiling tile and went on a “rampage.”
The Hanover County animal shelter confirmed the raccoon was unharmed aside from a likely hangover and was released back into the wild after sobering up.
Raccoons have increasingly adapted to urban life, showing physical changes similar to early domestication, such as shorter snouts, smaller teeth, and curlier tails, thanks to their ability to thrive on human refuse.
Alcohol consumption is common in the animal kingdom, with reports of feral pigs in Australia drinking beer and a bear cub in Turkey becoming intoxicated from “mad honey” produced by rhododendrons, The Guardian has reported.
These incidents highlight both the adaptability of wildlife to human environments and the surprising ways animals interact with human food and substances.
