A raccoon who made national headlines for ransacking a Virginia liquor store has inspired his own line of cocktails, T-shirts, sweatshirts, and mugs, with proceeds benefiting some of his fellow furry friends.
Surveillance footage late last month showed the furry burglar on a booze-fueled rampage, smashing dozens of bottles and raiding shelves inside the store in Ashland, about 16 miles north of Richmond.
The raccoon was later found by a local animal control officer passed out, face down on the bathroom floor.
The hilarious incident has earned the trash panda local celebrity status, with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority naming three cocktails after the critter, and local animal control officials creating a line of merchandise dedicated to the raccoon.
The Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter announced the “Ashland Drunk Raccoon” T-shirts, which read “Trashed Panda” and featured a drawing of a passed-out raccoon and an abandoned alcohol bottle across the front.
Proceeds from the merchandise will go directly to the county-run shelter to help fund training, equipment, and shelter needs for the animals.
In addition to the T-shirt, officials are selling a hoodie, long-sleeve shirt, mug, tumbler and sticker featuring the same “Trashed Panda” image across the front. In a Facebook post Friday, officials said the T-shirt campaign had raised nearly $100,000 to benefit the shelter and local animal protection officers.
“We are absolutely blown away! Thanks to our incredible community, and everyone who jumped in on the fun of our now-famous ‘drunk-raccoon’ story, our Bonfire merch campaign is approaching $100,000 raised for Hanover County Animal Protection & Shelter and Hanover Animal Protection Officers,” animal control wrote on Facebook.
Virginia’s beverage control authority also shared a new ad inspired by the drunken raccoon’s antics, including three digital artworks of the raccoon with various types of alcoholic beverages.
The “Raccoon’s Recommendations” include a “Rye Rascal Sour,” a “Trash Panda Old Fashioned,” and a “Midnight Masked Gin Fizz.”
The raccoon involved in the hilarious hijinks was taken back to the animal shelter and monitored as he sobered up.
“After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” the Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter said.
