Raccoon Rescue Snarls Traffic On Busy Peninsula Freeway

SAN MATEO, CA — Somewhere on the Peninsula, there’s a raccoon scampering around with a story to tell.

On Wednesday she was at the center of a frantic scene on a busy freeway, but it all ended well.

The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, with the help of the California Highway Patrol, rescued the raccoon as she dangled dangerously from underneath an onramp on Highway 92 where the freeway connects to U.S. 101 in San Mateo.

The PHS/SPCA arrived on the scene minutes after a call from the public came in alerting them of the animal’s perilous plight, communications manager Buffy Martin-Tarbox said.

“The raccoon was in an extremely precarious situation and her only options were to fall from the high above the ground onramp to the ground below or attempt to survive in the oncoming traffic,” Tarbox said.

“Either option would have potentially ended in tragedy for the animal.”

CHP officers were on the scene to assist the rescue by stopping traffic on the onramp while PHS/SCPA staff reached over the side of the freeway with specialized equipment to safely and humanely rescue the raccoon.

“Once we had safely secured the raccoon, she was brought to our Wildlife Care Center for evaluation,” Tarbox said.

“The raccoon was given a clean bill of health and our rescue staff released her back to the wild a safe away distance from the highway.”

The raccoon is among more than 400 animals PHS/SPCA has helped since San Mateo County instituted the shelter-in-place order.

The PHS/SPCA provided a video documenting her release.

“Hopefully she has learned her lesson and will stay far away from any onramps but rescuing wildlife as we increasingly encroach on natural habitat is a very predictable and at times very challenging part of our work,” Tarbox said.