“It really shocked me to see her in that condition” 😰
A routine cleaning job at an Indianapolis brewery suddenly turned into an animal rescue when an employee discovered a tiny stowaway hiding among a shipment of kegs.
Steve, who works at Sun King Brewing, was cleaning newly delivered kegs when a very small animal unexpectedly fell from one of the pallets.
He carefully picked up the newborn creature and brought him over to his coworkers.
At first, nobody was quite sure what they were looking at.
Some employees wondered if the wet, tiny animal might be a bat or even a rat. After examining his markings more closely, however, the team noticed the distinctive pattern on his tail.
The mysterious visitor was a baby raccoon.
Brewery workers quickly grew attached to him and decided to call him Wee Mac, borrowing the name from one of Sun King Brewing’s beers.
But it was also obvious that the little raccoon needed help.
Wee Mac was so young that his eyes had not yet opened, and he appeared weak and barely responsive. For a moment, employees were not even certain he was alive.
Then he began to move.
Realizing that the newborn animal would have little chance of surviving without specialized care, brewery employee Rick Franklin contacted Re-Wilding Indiana.
Wildlife rehabilitator Ann Shirley soon arrived and took Wee Mac into her care.
Since then, the tiny raccoon has been receiving the constant attention a baby his age requires. Rehabbers are feeding him formula every three to four hours and carefully monitoring his development.
The good news is that Wee Mac has already begun putting on weight.
If his recovery continues as hoped, he will remain with wildlife specialists while he grows stronger and learns the skills he needs to survive independently.
The eventual goal is to return him to the wild next spring, when he is old enough to care for himself.
For the employees at Sun King Brewing, what started as an ordinary day handling kegs became an unexpected chance to save a life.
Thanks to their quick response and the help of experienced wildlife rehabilitators, Wee Mac went from being a helpless baby hidden inside a shipment to having a real chance at growing up and returning to where he belongs.