Woman Catches Shade Online for 20-Second Baby Raccoon Video
Published June 12 2023, 12:22 p.m. ET
A TikTok creator who shares content using the handle @ramblinbirdie found herself in the center of a hate storm online after she posted a 20-second video of baby raccoons randomly following her on a city sidewalk.
So what happened that turned TikTok against her? Read on for details of how an army of wildlife lovers rose up against this creator — and how she ultimately had the last laugh.
A woman shared a video of baby raccoons following her on a sidewalk — the internet went wild.
The raccoon ruckus started when the TikTok creator filmed three baby ring-eyed wild animals randomly following her as she walked down the street. In the very short clip, captioned "I was just minding my business," we hear the creator laughing as the admittedly adorable baby raccoons ramble after her.
Soon, the clip had been viewed thousands of times, and prompted over 20,000 comments! People started wondering if the creator had found the mother raccoon, with countless commenters imploring her to do something, such as the observer who said, "I hope you didn't just leave them out there!"
The creator, Emma, then peppered responses into the comments to assure other concerned folks that she'd had her rabies shots, and that she'd also contacted animal control. She shared an update on the situation to TikTok, informing her many now-invested followers that the "three little guys" had been picked up by wildlife rehabilitation.
"I saw mama this morning like I usually do," Emma added, noting that "the goal was to get everybody reunited and relocated to a safer area."
Still, as she added in the comments, many people were piling on to express their anger over her not keeping the animals — or, seemingly just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. "People are gonna be mad either way," she ultimately conceded about her decision to "do the responsible thing" and contact the proper authorities to handle the baby raccoons.
The raccoon warrior ended up posting a lengthy update in an attempt to answer critter critics.
After being bombarded with far too many opinions about her raccoon saga, Emma clearly felt she had to share a lengthier response to address everyone's concerns.
"They're all gonna be fine," she assured people.
Then, Emma shared the "number one complaint" folks had after viewing her exceedingly-short initial video: that she "didn't pick them up." That's when she asserted that "any sane person" who works with wild animals would tell you not to have "skin-to-skin contact" with an animal like this, mainly since they can carry communicable diseases.
Finally, the creator fumed that commenters accused her of intentionally leading the racoons to the street. "That's not what happened," she said. "Once I realized that they were following me to the street, I walked in the other direction."
Interestingly, Emma noted that she has worked at animal rehabilitation facilities — so she knew what to do in this situation, haters be darned!
