Plump raccoons steal birthday boy's thunder, outdo 'dumpster diver' at his own game

A popular content creator who goes by @dumpsterdiveking on Instagram shared a video showing three raccoons seizing a dustbin after consuming all the garbage. Dumpster King hails from Boston, Massachusetts, and is famous for his dumpster diving across the country. But this time, his work was hijacked by someone else. The video was shared on July 24 and has garnered 10.7 million views so far.

The creator woke up on his birthday morning and decided to take a dip in his trash cans. Putting a damper on his plans, his wife informed him of the uninvited guests occupying the drums. At first, he thought that she was messing with him, but once he stepped into his backyard and found one of three trash cans "tipped over," he had a sobering realization. Curious birthday boy immediately pulled at the lid of the garbage bin, and was shocked to find a group of three raccoons stuffed in it. "They are the cutest little things I have ever seen in my life," he exclaimed in the video. The raccoons had eaten all the food in the bins, and there was nothing left to dive into for the Dumpster Dive King, so he went inside and wished the group a "Good night."  Later, the man added, “I thought my wife was messing with me! Happy birthday to me!! Can these get out without my help?” he asked in the caption of the video.

Raccoons are nature's best dumpster divers. Recent research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology said that they love the trash can so much that they have easily adapted to the increasing urbanization of the environment. The presence of dumpsters behind residential buildings is a haven for these wild animals — especially the docile and timid raccoons, which are excellent at taking advantage of the amenities the cities provide. The younger ones can easily break into objects/garbage containers in search of food using their cognitive abilities in tandem with their emotional ones. Along with them, pigeons, mice, and rats also seek shelter and food in these urban areas. The study highlighted that these are the group of animals that have easily coexisted with people in a setting that was never made for them.

They are a familiar sight in trash cans. And as easy as it is for raccoons to crawl inside the elongated boxes, it is equally difficult for them to get out. Many incidents have been reported of raccoons stuck in garbage bins. Three years ago, Officer Sean Bailey of the Amherst Police Department in New York was deployed to rescue a trapped raccoon in the trash. Delay in care would've resulted in the imminent death of the animal. The raccoon was immediately rescued, and so was the group jammed in Dumpster Dive King's trash cans. In another video shared two days later, it was shown that he "released" the three raccoons on the same day.

You can follow more of Dumpter Dive King's adventures on Instagram at @dumpsterdiveking