CLOSE What do you get when you combine a raccoon, a sky-high building and a death-defying climb? One inspirational success story. USA TODAY 
 
 A raccoon stretches itself on the window sill of the Paige Donnelly Law Firm on the 23rd floor of the UBS Tower in St. Paul, Minn., on June 12. (Photo: Evan Frost, AP) 
 
 After a perilous journey that captured the attention of thousands, a brave raccoon has made it to the top of a Minnesota skyscraper. 
 
 The raccoon, who became stranded on the ledge of a building in St. Paul, climbed a 25-story tower and turned into an internet celebrity overnight. The saga started Monday, when the animal was spotted in a shallow recess of a wall on a Town Square building, Minnesota Public Radio's KNOW-FM reports. 
 
 A maintenance crew attempted to help the raccoon by offering it a makeshift ladder. That didn't work — it scared the animal to a nearby office tower, where it began its death-defying ascent. Tuesday afternoon, local coverage of the climb trended on Twitter with #mprraccoon, and the world began rooting for the little guy. 
 
 People became concerned it might not make it up the UBS Tower. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn even tweeted he would donate $1,000 to help rescue the raccoon. 
 
 But, an attempted rescue is what sparked this dangerous feat. 
 
 The raccoon surprisingly clawed up the side of the 25-story tower. (Photo: Evan Frost, AP) 
 
 “The best thing is to leave him alone," Laurie Brickley, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Safety and Inspections, told the Star Tribune Tuesday. 
 
 Animal control workers did set live traps on the tower's roof, believing that would be the safest option for capture, MPR reports. Then, rescuers could bring the critter back down to safety. Windows on the building do not open, workers said. 
 
 As of Tuesday evening, the raccoon had climbed to the 23rd floor. Around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, live feeds showed the raccoon reached the roof. 
 
 A Twitter account following the frightened raccoon's journey declared "I made it!" 
 
 The raccoon was captured in a live trap, a law firm occupying the top floor of the building told MPR reporter Tim Nelson. 
 
 Rescuers plan to release the raccoon to safety, hopefully far away from any tall buildings. 
 
 After a delicious meal of soft cat food, #mprraccoon has been caught and will be picked up by Wildlife Management. Goodbye friend! pic.twitter.com/twcBPpjOQk — UBS Plaza (@ubs_plaza) June 13, 2018 
 
 Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets 
 
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 Raccoon Is Rescued Atop Building In Minnesota, After Capturing Fans Worldwide 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Sheila Donnelly-Coyne/Paige Donnelly Law Sheila Donnelly-Coyne/Paige Donnelly Law 
 
 Updated at 3:21 p.m. ET 
 
 For hours, her life was like a highlight reel of daring stunts and escapes — but now, a raccoon that mesmerized people by climbing a tall building in St. Paul, Minn., has been trapped and is safe. 
 
 "In our office we are just glad he is safe. We were all worried about him," said Sheila Donnelly-Coyne, an attorney whose firm, Paige Donnelly, is on the 23rd floor of the UBS building. (It was later determined that the critter is female.) 
 
 The raccoon was spotted more than 20 stories above street level, in a downtown escapade that our colleagues at Minnesota Public Radio tracked closely — she was, after all, just across the street from them, giving them front-row seats as the animal avoided death and capture with equal aplomb. 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Sheila Donnelly-Coyne/Paige Donnelly Law Sheila Donnelly-Coyne/Paige Donnelly Law 
 
 Dubbed the #mprraccoon on Twitter, the raccoon drew thousands of breathless observers as she scampered, scaled and explored her unlikely high-rise habitat. Her occasional naps were followed closely, analyzed for clues about her mental state, hopes and dreams. 
 
 St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter spun her adventure as a positive for the city's tourism industry — proof that even a raccoon knew Minnesota's capital "is a great place to reach for higher heights." 
 
 Meanwhile, tensions were reaching such great heights of their own that a local Good Samaritan roughly two dozen stories below the raccoon even offered — rather ambitiously — to catch the little one. 
 
 Happily, no such extreme measures were necessary. 
 
 Folks with the UBS Plaza announced Wednesday morning that the raccoon had reached the roof overnight, grabbed a snack of soft cat food and found herself trapped in one of the cages laid out for her there. 
 
 The building's management hired the local Wildlife Management Services to trap the raccoon. The group says it then brought the tiny hero's cage to a private residence in the suburbs outside the city — where, after consultation with the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, the raccoon was released Wednesday afternoon "with permission from the homeowner." 
 
 Wildlife Management Services posted video of the release, which shows a rather reluctant raccoon eventually dashing off into the wild green yonder. 
 
 But one question remains: What inspired her Alex Honnold-like heroics? Probably something pretty mundane, frankly. 
 
 Before she became an online sensation, the #mprraccoon was likely looking for food in a lower skyway, Tim Nelson of MPR News reported. He said the animal had been stranded on the building for at least two days. 
 
 At any rate, she's safe now. Celebrate the feat with this little supercut of the raccoon's great upward scamper, courtesy of Alicia Lewis of local NBC affiliate KARE.
– The skyscraper-ascending raccoon of Minnesota has reportedly been rescued. NPR reports the determined climber, which had been trapped at various spots on the UBS building in St. Paul for two days, is said to finally have been trapped by building management, per a law firm on the 23rd floor of the tower. CBS News notes the raccoon—which became an internet sensation under the #mprraccoon hashtag—had been alternately climbing and descending the 25-story building. The windows on the building don't open, so building maintenance staff set traps on the roof, hoping the raccoon would make it to the top, per USA Today. And the resolute raccoon did, finally climbing onto the roof early Wednesday (a local reporter has video of that small triumph). The raccoon did reportedly end up in a live trap. People in the tower, in St. Paul, and on social media had been following the raccoon's journey, with some worried it could fall, and now everyone's breathing a sigh of relief. "In our office we are just glad he is safe. We were all worried about him," says an attorney with the Paige Donnelly firm, on whose 23rd-story ledge the raccoon had rested for a while. One commenter acknowledged the raccoon's inadvertent patriotism: "This raccoon is doing a better job at uniting America than either political party."