Raccoon filmed riding through the air as workers remove trees

You may have heard the old saying, "when pigs fly, but what about raccoons?

If you were in the Ethel Street area in Kelowna on Monday morning you would have received a front seat to the flying raccoon show.

For those of you who didn't see it, Max McLaughlin shared a video he took as workers were taking down some of the trees at Lindon House on Ethel Street.

"I saw a raccoon sitting on a branch of one of the trees they were taking down and I started filming. I don't know what their protocol would be for dealing with raccoons."

The work was being done by Action Tree Service and when contacted by Castanet, owner Tony Wilkinson said he was actually on another site at the moment "dealing with the exact same problem."

He said raccoons can be a pesky problem, especially in the spring.

"We try and motivate them to leave and we relocate them when that doesn't work."

Wilkinson says raccoons typically leave on their own but when they don't, "the next move is to literally cut it (the tree) down and bring it slowly to the ground, so it can happily live another day."

This is the exact same technique the crane operator appears to be using in the video as we can see the branch being slowly lowered behind the house.

"I saw them lower it behind the house slowly enough for him to hop off and run back to the forest," says McLaughlin.

Raccoons, like most wild animals, are busy in the spring and can adapt, even prosper, living near people.

Raccoons are considered one of the most charismatic species of animals in North America and are carnivores but will eat almost anything

In addition to eating wild foods, raccoons are also known for raiding gardens, garbage cans, bird feeders, fish ponds—even kitchen cabinets.

Wilkinson says, "we're not trying to hurt them, but we have to be careful, they are ferocious."