Friends from Michigan tell of the extraordinary moment when they saved a choking raccoon

Burton, Michigan — You have no doubt seen many animal rescues, from barn fires to flash floods, of animals cut loose and flown out. But this story is unique.

“It’s incredible to see,” John Ptaszenski told CBS News. “You know, if we hadn’t caught it on camera, no one would have believed it.”

The drama unfolded last month at a backyard barbecue in Burton, Michigan, east of Flint. Longtime friends Ptaszenski, Tyler Whalen and Bill Messenger were finishing up their weekly barbecue when a raccoon showed up.

The raccoon had just stolen a slice of American cheese, a harmless prank until everyone realized that this mammal had overstepped its bounds.

The friends noticed that the raccoon was “pointing to its neck, like the universal sign for choking,” Whalen said.

“Right after that, Bill jumped into action and started punching his back,” Ptaszenski said of the incident, which was captured on cellphone video. “…I couldn’t believe a wild raccoon would let him punch him on the back that hard. I was like, ‘Oh my God!'”

Whalen said the raccoon “leaned back as if to say, ‘Help me, brother!'”

And Messenger helped the raccoon – as the footage shows – the cheese flew out of the mammal’s neck after he smacked it on the back. The raccoon survived and stayed briefly in the backyard before slowly strolling away.

Dr. Suzanne MacDonald, an animal behavior expert at York University in Toronto, said she has “seen everything” and “been bitten by everything,” but she has never experienced anything like this.

“Don’t pat raccoons or other animals on the back,” MacDonald said. “…But it wasn’t like he was giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation or anything like that.”

MacDonald explains that a choking animal cannot bite you. Nevertheless, the three friends believed they had no other choice.

“We all thought it was going to die,” Messenger said.

“We were so happy for the little guy,” Whalen added.

“He was one of us back then,” Ptaszenski said.