For 10 days in early February, neighbors in South Philly tried to capture a raccoon that was struggling to survive amid the city’s longest cold snap in more than two decades.
Benito, as they affectionately named the raccoon, was in terrible shape. He had mange, frostbite, open wounds and other sores all over his body. He was emaciated and stunk. The neighbors on South Cleveland Street set out a carrier with food inside to lure Benito to safety, and finally he took the bait.
“With no no fur or anything, I don’t even know how this animal kept warm, but the community was not going to give up on capturing this raccoon,” said Tracie Young, founder of Raven Ridge Wildlife Center, which took Benito in for rehab at the animal clinic in Washington Boro, Lancaster County…