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Scorched Baby Raccoon Finds New Home

News Channel 8 file photo by ANTHONY ALLRED

Miracle recovers at an animal hospital after being singed in a tar-heating machine.

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 17, 2008

TAMPA - A wild animal refuge in Hardee County received a little Miracle today.

Miracle, a baby raccoon that was scorched in a roofer's tar-heating machine April 22, was taken by veterinarians to the Hardee County Animal Refuge in Zolfo Springs.

The sanctuary at 650 Animal Way will be Miracle's permanent home, said Susan Woodman of Animal Hospital of Northwood in Safety Harbor.

The 2-month-old raccoon was nursed back to health at the animal hospital after it was burned in the kettle of a tar-heating machine. Roofers were beginning their work at Northside Hospital in Pinellas Park about 10 a.m. April 22 when they discovered Miracle and an adult raccoon inside the machine.

The workers were able to remove Miracle from the kettle but the adult would not come out. The foreman, Eric Lee Hill, told his employees that they were wasting time and to turn on the machine although the adult raccoon was still inside, said Gary Morse, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The adult raccoon was burned alive.

Hill, 49, of Pinellas Park, was charged with felony cruelty to animals. He posted $5,000 bail April 22 and has since pleaded not guilty to the charges, Pinellas County court records show.

After surviving its brush with death, the baby raccoon was named "Miracle" by the veterinarians of Animal Hospital of Northwood.

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