Update: Raccoon stuck in tree for hours touches ground safely

What do you do when a raccoon’s hanging on for dear life to the tree you’re about to chop down? That’s the question one worker was asking himself on Sixth Street in Greenport Tuesday morning.

A resident at the home eventually called the Greenport fire department who in turn called Village Administrator Dave Abatelli.

Mr. Abatelli came to the scene and requested that the tree removers continue their work, but leave the portion of the tree where the raccoon was perched.

Mr. Abatelli said he felt certain the raccoon would climb down once all the commotion stopped at the base of the tree.

By 12:45 p.m. workers had left the scene. The raccoon started to make his way down the tree at 1 p.m. but stopped.

A few minutes before 2 p.m., he made his way down to the ground safely and ran into a neighbor’s yard.

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