Were you driving, running or cycling in south Boulder yesterday morning?
Oh, well then you might have noticed a dirt dead raccoon laying by the side of the road with a "Get well soon!" helium balloon attached to its foot. A lot — like a lot —of other people did.
The orange balloon, replete with happy butterflies and cheerful flowers, swayed slowly in the breeze on Table Mesa Drive just east of Table Mesa Court, suggestively hypnotizing onlookers with its morbid beauty.
Below, the raccoon, which presumably lost a fist fight with a car, lay peacefully on its side, paws outstretched as if to welcome the undulating dance of death and hilarity its helium-filled friend performed.
Contractors working for Boulder to control traffic during some sewer upgrades said they saw a mysterious man drive up to the road-kill, tie the balloon to the corpse of Rocky, and drive away.
“It’s sad for the raccoon, but it really did brighten my day,” one said after taking a photo with her phone.
And while we'd be the first to emit a characteristic "Only in Boulder!" sigh, it appears this adorning-road-kill-with-inspirational-balloons thing is an actual … thing. Boulder is just the latest city to get down with the sickness of the viral trend.
In Toronto last summer, people created a small memorial around a road-kill raccoon with a rose, a framed photograph of a raccoon, notes and other flowers. And many photos of other dead animals with “Get well soon!” balloons have infiltrated the Internet, including similarly macabre homages to opossums, deer and birds.
Now, we know what you're thinking. Probably something along the lines of what this woman Tweeted as she stood around the Boulder raccoon's magnificent corpse:
Well, pat yourself on the back, because you'd be right! Also the sky is blue, rain is wet, blah blah blah. But in a city where blessing crystals, collecting quinoa and not vaccinating anyone is what we consider "good summer fun," you can't really be too surprised that adorning dead animals with inspirational balloons is the next hottest thing.
We just hope that raccoon gets better before the freeze. Cute little guy!
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