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Aug 11, 2023

Stripe painted over dead raccoon on Getwell Road in Memphis

by: Melissa Moon Posted: Aug 3, 2023 / 04:18 PM CDT Updated: Aug 4, 2023 / 11:53 AM CDT MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Raccoons don’t normally have stripes, but a driver on his way to work Wednesday morning had to

by: Melissa Moon

Posted: Aug 3, 2023 / 04:18 PM CDT

Updated: Aug 4, 2023 / 11:53 AM CDT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Raccoons don’t normally have stripes, but a driver on his way to work Wednesday morning had to do a double take after seeing a dead raccoon in the road that had been painted over by a city road crew.

Richie EsQuivel said he was on Getwell Road near Knight Arnold when he spotted the stripe across the unfortunate animal. He stopped down the road, got out of his car, and snapped a picture and posted it on Facebook.

“I hadn’t taken Getwell in a few weeks,” said EsQuival. “I guess my first thought was it’s kinda wild. Not something you see every day.”

The striping was done along the outer northbound lane of Getwell near Knight Arnold. EsQuivel said it looked like the paint was pretty fresh.

“The animal was maybe there for a few days by the looks of it. It’s pretty big and hard to miss,” EsQuivel said.

We asked a spokesperson for the City of Memphis how this might have happened. We were only told the city’s Solid Waste dead animal pick up and removal would be removing the deceased raccoon from that location Friday morning.

“It’s funny how much attention the picture is getting,” said EsQuivel. “It’s kinda sad they just striped over a dead animal. I would assume they have a street sweeper machine come through before they did a job that big, but who knows.”

EsQuivel said it didn’t appear any drivers around him noticed the striped raccoon, and it did not impact traffic.

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