Urban Wildlife Pulled Off Death-Defying Stunts in St. Paul and D.C. This Week

An anxious nation turned its eyes to Singapore Minnesota on Tuesday, where a raccoon managed to climb more than 20 stories up the side of the UBS tower in St. Paul before taking a nap on a ledge outside the 23rd floor. Tim Nelson provided on-the-scene reporting of the entire episode. Nelson's efforts in following the high-wire act of the animal dubbed the #mprracoon by social media onlookers even earned an article focusing solely on his accomplishments.

The raccoon was eventually captured and released into a grassy field. If you're looking for more on the super powers of raccoons, National Geographic has you covered.

Then the scene of urban wildlife making people more than a little worried about the consequences of their interactions with the built environment shifted to Washington, D.C., where also on Tuesday a deer wandered into the Crystal City Metro station and, according to an article by Dana Hedgpeth, "jumped onto the tracks and amazingly managed to make it out without hitting the electrified third rail — or a train."

There's plenty of video of the exploits of both these daring animals available at the links to the source articles.