SEATTLE — A raccoon in Seattle is getting a cult following online.
The raccoon doesn’t look like the others that people are used to seeing, KIRO reported. The animal, nicknamed “Jimothy,” has front and back legs that are a little too close together.
Some of “Jimothy’s” exploits include trotting on a deck, taking a drink from a dog bowl, and hanging out in a tree.
People have likened the strange-looking raccoon to cryptids, or, as Merriam-Webster defines, “an animal (such as Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster) that has been claimed to exist but never proven to exist.”
“Kind of has some sort of physical abnormality, kind of looks a little bit like a cryptid but very cute,” Brigitte D’autremont told KIRO. “Almost a little supernatural, kind of like Bigfoot or a yeti or something, becoming infamous really quickly.”
But instead of supernatural causes, some speculate online that the raccoon has a short-spine disease.
Veterinarian Carrie Schenider told KIRO, “It appears that this raccoon, which is a local neighbor, has a congenital spine shortening disease. It does look quite unusual, but it is a condition that happens in other mammals as well.”