A cute but unusual-looking raccoon nicknamed Jimothy has become an internet star after a video of him scurrying around a neighbourhood in Seattle racked up millions of views.

Kiana Hall was out on a walk with her partner when she spotted the animal behind a car and admits that at first she was baffled about what she was looking at.

“What was I looking at? I would say that I was looking at some kind of grey fluffy creature that was shaped sort of like an orb with really long legs,” she told Reuters.

“(He) almost looks to me like a monkey or a lemur.”

Jimothy has a short, roundish body and arched back due to what is thought to be a rare congenital deformity that also affects other mammals including dogs and cats.

Hall, who game him his nickname, was so enchanted by the raccoon that she took a short video on her phone, which promptly went viral when shared on Instagram.

“Little dude looks funny but is otherwise completely healthy & can live a normal life,” said one person commenting on Hall’s post. “Normally I see it in dogs, sometimes cats… but this is a new one!!”

@fox13seattle A raccoon in Seattle has become a celebrity 🦝 #jimothy #ballard #raccoon ♬ original sound – FOX 13 Seattle

Hall’s post has led to other residents in her neighbourhood of Ballard sharing their own stories and video clips – including one that showed him as an infant walking along a fence with his family.

Ben Trammell, who uploaded the clip, said Seattle’s “newest celebrity” was born in his neighbour’s cedars to a racoon family that had lived there for years.

“We saw Jimothy (way better than moniker than what we came up with) almost daily for months. The family used our backyard as a protected on/off ramp for their nightly outings. He was so small and clumsy but his mother and siblings were always so patient and caring, keeping him from falling and sometimes just carrying him.”

 

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In addition to inspiring numerous memes, artworks and even tattoos, Jimothy is set to be recognised by the local council, according to the Seattle Times.

It reported that city council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck planned to issue a proclamation in Ballard designating summer 2026 as “Jimothy Summer” on behalf of her office.

Kinda looks like and inverted #Jimothy moving up the coast, maybe #raccoon pic.twitter.com/hiLVfkhxmx

— Michael Snyder (@SeattleWXGuy) July 20, 2026

As for how the raccoon got his unusual name, Hall said she just thought he “looks like a Jimothy”.

“I guess other neighbours had seen him in the past, but this was my first time seeing him,” she told one US media outlet.

“I’m really happy that it brings some kind of joy to people’s lives. I hope it encourages people to kind of walk around their neighbourhoods more and just check out what’s around them, because that’s what we were doing.”