Raccoon With Head Stuck in Sewer Grate Is Freed With the Help of Cooking Grease

Peek-a-boo!

This poor raccoon was spotted with its head poking out of a sewer grate in Massachusetts after the animal had apparently gotten stuck.

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Officials arrived on the scene to give the critter a helping hand.

Northampton Animal Control Officer Shayla Howe told InsideEdition.com while she doesn't know exactly how the baby raccoon got stuck in the grate, but said other raccoons have been seen in the area. 

Howe added that she didn't know how long the animal was trapped, but he didn't appear to be dehydrated.

"We tried pulling him out, but his head was very stuck," Howe said. "I don't even know how he got it in there." 

Officials then came up with an ingenious way to free the raccoon, as his mom was spotted peeking from a distance.

"We decided to use cooking oil," Howe said. "We splattered it around him and we kept turning, trying to get it around his head."

They employed their own elbow grease, and even though Howe said she was becoming discouraged, she knew this was the only way to get him out. The grate was at least two inches thick, she said, and too close to his head to cut around it.

"I did not have a backup plan," she said. "I was just hoping eventually it'd work."

45 minutes later, they were finally able to get the critter out of the hole.

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"Luckily, [officers were] able to free him after some time, unharmed," the Northampton Police Department wrote on Twitter.

Howe said after they fed the baby raccoon, officials released the animal back to its worried mom.

Watch: The Grate Escape! Rescuers Help Raccoon Who Tried to Squeeze Out of Sewer