When a wild raccoon was brought in with an arrow through its neck, veterinarian Leonard Fox pushed aside his normal cases of cats and dogs.
“I had never seen anything like this,” Fox said of the 12-pound adult male raccoon that city animal control brought to the Animal Hospital of West Port St. Lucie at 10:30 a.m. Monday. A city resident had reported the animal being near Becker Road and Darwin Boulevard.
The 2½-foot-long arrow had entered near the animal’s left ear and exited through its neck, somehow missing all vital organs, leaving the 12-pound animal in otherwise decent condition, Fox said.
Fox quickly sedated the feisty raccoon to prevent further damage to the wound. After taking an X-ray, Fox said he “removed the tip of the arrow and pulled it (the shaft) through. Then we flushed out both ends (of the wound) and applied antibiotics.”
“I expect complete recovery,” he said.
The animal then was transferred to Creature Safe Place, a wildlife rescue shelter on McCarty Road in Fort Pierce.
It is unknown how the animal was shot, said Todd Wallace, supervisor of Port St. Lucie Animal Control. When animal control first arrived, Wallace said the raccoon was still pretty active.
“It was not crippled up,” he said.
