警员救浣熊

Their motto is to serve and protect, even if it's a four-legged bandit.

Fredericton police officers borrowed a paramedic's backboard, a pair of bolt cutters and used a little gentle nudging to free a young raccoon tangled up in barb wire running along the top of a chain-link fence Thursday.

Two emergency medical technicians driving by in their ambulance spotted some youngsters poking at the raccoon.

The animal was on the fence near the Fredericton Exhibition Grounds and walking path behind the Atlantic Superstore on Smythe Street.

It's unclear if the youngsters were teasing the critter or trying to poke it free, but either way ambulance personnel asked police to help.

"He was actually entangled in the barb wire. That's what happened," said Sgt. Matt Myers, one of the raccoon rescuers.

"He's exhausted right now because I suspect he's been up there quite some time."

Cpl. Tim Sowers suggested a pair of bolt cutters to nip the single strand of barb wire.

Once police rounded up a long-handled pair of bolt cutters, they were able to ease the tension and nudge the exhausted and frightened raccoon down to the bottom of the fence where he curled up into a ball.

The police officers decided to leave the tuckered out, but unhurt raccoon alone to recover and trundle off on his own steam after a snooze.

"We're good to go and that's our good deed," Myers said.

Raccoons often end up in residential parts of the city because of the proximity of Odell Park to the downtown core.

Notorious scavengers, the critters look for easy loot and may have been tempted to visit the Exhibition Grounds lured by nearby Tim Horton's and William's Seafood eateries.

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Police came to the rescue of a raccoon trapped in barb wire in Fredericton on Thursday afternoon.