The anonymous administrator behind a viral Facebook page for Jimothy the raccoon says both they and the beloved Seattle animal have received death threats since the account launched in mid-July.
The admin, who is not the person who filmed the original viral video, started the page on July 17, the same week footage of the raccoon first exploded across social media. They described the account as “a safe haven for people with kindness, love and empathy for wild animals.”
Threats began surfacing roughly a month after the page went live, according to the admin, with most automatically hidden by platform filters. The hostility escalated from there. In one post, the admin claimed as many as five people had issued death threats or death wishes against Jimothy in a single week. “I have tracked, documented, and saved every threat,” the admin wrote in a separate post.
The admin said the pattern is now spreading widely across platforms. “It’s just because we all love Jimothy so much, and when he is threatened we all want to defend him,” they said. They added that running the page has become “a responsibility in a sense,” explaining that losing the community could genuinely hurt some followers who have grown deeply attached to the animal and his story.
Jimothy first captured public attention when Kiana Hall posted video of him while walking around the Ballard Goodwill with her partner. Hall said of the encounter: “I got very confused at what I was seeing.” She settled on the name because, as she put it, “He looked like a Jimothy.” The raccoon lives in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, where his distinctive shortened neck—likely caused by a congenital spine deformity—has made him instantly recognizable. Experts have assessed that despite his unusual appearance, he is “functioning well and very spry.”
The admin highlighted one particularly disturbing remark allegedly left by a commenter under a post by Seattle Fun Events, a page they credited with helping break the Jimothy story locally. “It’s time to put that thing out of its misery,” the comment read. The admin said they confronted the commenter directly and told him to back off, but that he stood by his remark as roughly 90 comments accumulated beneath it. The admin reported the individual to law enforcement, noting it was clear he was from the area.
Supporters have flooded the page with messages backing the admin and condemning the threats. “I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this,” one person wrote. Others questioned the motivation behind the hostility, with one asking: “Why all the hate towards an animal that isn’t doing any harm?” Some followers pushed for concrete consequences, with one asking: “Can you report them to wildlife authorities?” and another adding: “Hope there are consequences for the people threatening darling Jimothy.” One commenter argued that such remarks make it seem “socially acceptable to harm animals.”
The devotion to Jimothy extends well beyond online engagement. Fans have gotten permanent tattoos of the wild animal, and the admin has urged followers never to share his exact location—a precaution they said is broadly supported across other Jimothy-focused groups.
“All I want is just a really good community, with a continuing story about Jimothy, because it makes so many people happy,” the admin said.