The raccoon was discovered by when the container was opened in Ho Chi Minh, prompting a call to ENV. Photo: Internet

Raccoons - native to North America and can be found throughout the United States - in the wild typically hunt and forage for their foods. They tend to prefer living near water sources where they can dine on raccoon delicacies like crayfish, frogs, fish, snails and clams. However, they’re also happy to eat eggs, insects, nuts, fruits, vegetables and even the occasional dead animal. Raccoons are obviously not very picky eaters.

These animals also have a tendency to become opportunistic feeders, meaning if they find a readily available source of food, that’s their new favorite dish. This could be anything from the dog food to summer vegetable garden to fallen fruit or nuts. This could even include a garbage can with an unsecured lid.

Recently,
Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV)
received a hotline call from a food company in Ho Chi Minh City after a staff member was attacked by a racoon.

It was reported he jumped out of a container of
pork ribs
and that many other products had been affected.

The racoon snuck its way into a shipment of food before it left North America, then ate its way through most of the products during its journey to Vietnam.

The raccoon was discovered by employees in Vietnam, who called
ENV
to remove them.

When the container arrived at a Vietnam's warehouse, "Rocket" is still extremely healthy even though he has been through 35 days of non-stop transportation, the temperature in the container is always in the state of -18 degrees Celsius and lacks oxygen, local news reported.

Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) arranged the safe transfer of the wild animal to a wildlife facility. Source: ENV

He will have to remain at the wildlife facility as there are no racoon repatriate services. Source: ENV

When employees in Vietnam opened the container, the raccoon was aggressive to say the least, said ENV.

Thankfully, they called ENV and their team was able to coordinate the safe transfer of the wild animal to a wildlife facility here in Vietnam.

Raccoons are not indigenous to Vietnam so he cannot be released to the wild here. He will have to remain at the wildlife facility as there are no racoon repatriate services, but at least he is safe from the wildlife trade.

Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) was established in 2000 as Vietnam’s first non-governmental organization focused on the conservation of nature and the environment. ENV works to protect the environment by tackling the biggest threat to biodiversity: the illegal wildlife trade. Their mission is to end the illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam which is devastating ecosystems around the world and pushing the earth closer and closer to the sixth mass extinction.

Since ENV began the ENV Wildlife Crime Unit in 2005 more than 17500 wildlife crimes have been reported to ENV./.