Seattle's latest viral star isn't a tech CEO—it's a raccoon with a neck so short that people initially weren't sure what they were looking at. Walking near a Goodwill in Ballard on Monday, Kiana Hall thought she was filming a cat under a car, per the Seattle Times. Instead, a compact, rounded raccoon shuffled into view, crossed some grass, climbed a set of stairs, and vanished over a fence. She posted the five-second clip to Instagram, dubbed the animal "Jimothy," and watched as views shot past 5 million.
Another local then surfaced older security footage of the same raccoon, fueling online comparisons to fantasy creatures, per People. Veterinary experts say Jimothy likely isn't mythical, just medically unusual. Marcie Logsdon of Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, who reviewed the videos, suspects that a congenital spinal deformity similar to "short spine syndrome," seen rarely in dogs and other animals, may explain the animal's compressed-looking body and neck. She notes she can't diagnose from video alone but says Jimothy's agility suggests he's coping well and should be left to navigate the city on his own.
Hall, meanwhile, is just glad her clip is giving people something to smile about. As for how the "quirky critter" got its name? CBS Evening News quotes an unnamed person, presumably Hall, as saying: "He just looks like a Jimothy." The New York Post has more on a Tibetan spaniel named Tilly with a similar condition.
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