BURTON, MI – A Genesee County, Michigan man has made news across the country.
William “Boski” Messenger, a Burton resident and business owner, posted a video to his social media showing him saving a raccoon from choking on a piece of cheese.
Yes, you read correctly.
“He was just standing on his back legs,” Messenger said. “My friend Tyler grabbed his flashlight and turned it on, and I don’t know how I knew she was choking, but I just started to help her.”
John Ptaszenski recorded the video and Tyler Whalen can be heard coaching him.
The friends were hanging out in Messenger’s backyard, like they usually do, eating and playing games. Around 3 a.m. on June 15, the drama began.
The video shows Messenger tapping the raccoon on the back.
“It all happened so quickly,” Ptaszenski said. “Bill had already slapped the raccoon five times in the back before I even decided to pull out my phone. I sat there in disbelief. »
Ptaszenki’s video has generated more than 18 million views on TikTok and nearly 300,000 likes on Instagram.
“When John started recording it, we had no idea what was going on,” Messenger said. “We didn’t know he was choking. It was just instinct and I went around the back and tried to dislodge him.
The friends nicknamed the raccoon Rocket, after the “Guardians of the Galaxy” character, but haven’t seen him since.
“I’ve never seen this raccoon before and I’ve lived there for about a decade,” Messenger said, adding that his neighbor regularly saw the raccoon knocking over trash cans. Messenger saw lots of deer and rabbits, probably none choking.
Messenger and friends have received a lot of publicity.
“It’s kind of funny to me,” he said. “Being considered a hero is crazy. But it was really cool to be able to do something like that.
Even if a wild animal appears calm or friendly, people should never approach it due to rabies risks. Healthy and sick raccoons can attack, but a rabid raccoon is more likely to do so, according to Critter Control.
Before the raccoon choked, the three men were petting it. The raccoon did not act aggressively, even climbing up Ptaszenski’s leg at one point.
The odds of seeing a raccoon choking are very low, but Messenger has one piece of advice: “Don’t go near it,” he says with a laugh. “The only reason we were brave enough to go near it is because it had spent enough time with us to warm up. It wasn’t acting crazy like normal raccoons do.”
