Raccoon rescued after 60 days without food in shipping container

'We will examine the animal and initiate its rehabilitation. We will speak to the concerned authorities and try to send the animal back to its country of origin,' officials said.

Mumba: A raccoon in a severely dehydrated condition was rescued from a shipping container in Maharashtra's Palghar district after it had survived without food and water for 60 days, an official said on Monday.

The animal was hiding behind some goods in one of the containers shipped to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust from the US and was spotted when the consignment was unloaded in Wada taluka on Sunday, the official said.

The management of the company reached out to the Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare (RAWW), and a team reached the location and rescued the animal, said Pawan Sharma, founder and president of RAWW and also the Honorary Wildlife Warden with the forest department.

The animal was severely dehydrated and had been starving since November 5 last year, when the container was shipped, he said.

Raccoons are carnivorous medium-sized mammals native to North America, he said.

"We will examine the animal and initiate its rehabilitation. We will speak to the concerned authorities and try to send the animal back to its country of origin," Sharma said.