Kentucky Nurse Saves Baby Raccoon with CPR After Moonshine Exposure

Misty Combs, a nurse at the Letcher County Health Department in Whitesburg, Kentucky, went viral after performing CPR on a baby raccoon that had become unresponsive after ingesting fermented peaches discarded by a nearby distillery. Combs and her coworkers found a distressed mother raccoon trying to rescue her trapped babies from a dumpster filled with moonshine-soaked peaches. After freeing one baby raccoon with a shovel, Combs discovered the second raccoon unconscious and began administering CPR despite never having performed it on an animal before. A video taken by coworkers shows Combs giving chest compressions and back pats until the raccoon regained consciousness. Despite fears of rabies, Combs acted quickly to save the animal, which was later taken by the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources to a vet and released back into the wild the following day. Her quick thinking and compassion have been widely celebrated across social media and news outlets.