The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife issued a statement after the incident asking people to “Please ‘Keep Wildlife Wild’ and “If you care, leave them there.”

Following a wild animal’s Tuesday visit to a Petco in Maine for nail trimming, a newborn raccoon was put down due to worries that it might have rabies.

Others in the store approached the raccoon to hold and kiss it as the woman waited for the grooming service, according to a Facebook post from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife on Thursday.

Once they were made aware of the raccoon’s presence and contacted the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Maine Warden Service, the store manager asked the woman to leave.

The message made it clear that “Petco does not trim raccoon nails” and that “it is illegal to possess wildlife in Maine.”

“Raccoons are one of the most frequent carriers of rabies in Maine,” the organization continued. Unless treated after exposure, rabies is fatal.
The new Facebook post states that the raccoon tested negative for the disease, meaning individuals exposed no longer need to get treated after being advised to get tested for rabies if they had contact with it.

According to Maine’s rabies testing regulations, the raccoon had to undergo a rabies test before being put down, according to NBC News.

In its concluding statement, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries urged readers to “please ‘Keep Wildlife Wild’ and “If you care, leave them there.”

Call the Maine Warden Service at 1-800-452-4664 if you have any information regarding the woman with the raccoon in the pictures from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s Facebook page.