Drunk Raccoon Raises $250,000 For Animal Welfare

Earlier this month OGN told you about a "masked bandit" that burgled a liquor store and merrily drank its way through the spirits section. Since then, the viral story has taken a wonderfully surprising direction.

Credit: Hanover County Animal Protection

Here's a quick re-cap: Staff at a Virginia liquor store got a shock when they found a sozzled raccoon passed out on the floor. Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter were called in to rescue the "masked bandit" and Officer Martin worked out that the animal had fallen through one of the ceiling tiles (so, in its defence, the 'break-in' was probably unintentional) before going "on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything". After a few hours sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover) back at the shelter, the creature was safely released back into the wild. No doubt with a good story to tell his friends.

Two days later, Bonfire, a company that allows clients to upload their designs onto simple merchandise options like hoodies and tumblers, was offering a line of “trashed panda” merch, with all proceeds going towards the animal shelter in Hanover. Each shirt, hoodie, or coffee mug had an hilarious depiction of the comatose raccoon from the photo snapped by Officer Martin, next to an open liquor bottle and a hashtag for the animal shelter.

Credit: Bonfire

Amazingly, the merch became a huge success, selling like hot cakes (or, discounted booze). As orders for the entertaining "trashed panda" clothing rolled in, the dollars swiftly mounted up. As of writing, Bonfire's clever and generous charity promotion has raised $252,000 for Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter. Who knew that a rampaging raccoon's party night would turn into such a serendipitous occasion for animal welfare in Virginia?