Indianapolis firefighters were disrupted in the middle of the night by a bizarre solicitation for help concerning a raccoon that may have been exposed to an excessive amount of marijuana.
The frantic owner brought her stoned critter to Station 82 at 2 a.m. and told attending EMTs her domesticated pet needed immediate attention.
She didn't know where else to turn.
Wayne Township Fire Capt. Michael Pruitt told RTV6 he and his crew were under the impression there was a far more critical situation transpiring.
Firefighters As many times as the doorbell on the firehouse was pushed, the firefighters were quite certain that something bad was going on outside
Pruitt explained there wasn't a quick remedy for the distraught animal.
The raccoon was very lethargic. She started explaining what had happened. There wasn't really much we could do, it was just the sort of thing that was going to take time.
According to Pruitt, he did say the animal "met all the requirements" of someone having smoked too much marijuana. Everyone at the station was flummoxed as to why someone would bring a critter under such conditions to them instead of the vet for assistance.
But he offered, "We hope that the raccoon made a full recovery."
IMPD officers also didn't know what to make of the raccoon's condition. One unidentified officer can be heard in a recording in Southwest District's radio chatter show, trying to make heads or tails of the situation.
Apparently they have a pet raccoon that got into their meth.
A dispatcher responded and tried to confirm.
Sir, Speedway doesn't have anything, but fire did call across the hall and say that it was a raccoon that overdosed on somebody's heroin.
A second Southwest District officer who was sitting at the fire house joined in the conversation and frowned on the case.
I'm sitting at one of the firehouses. No pet raccoons are overdosing here.
Another officer quipped:
Well if they show up, you Narcan him.
The other officer wasn't going to stick around.
Way too weird. I'm leaving.
Forget about the toking raccoon. Twitter users couldn't get past the fact that the woman had the "trash panda" as a pet.
According to a local, snatching a critter from the wild and keeping them as pets is a common thing in the Midwest.
What's the real story? This person has an idea.