A raccoon in Plymouth, Massachusetts was found living with an arrow driven straight through her face. X-rays showed the bolt, possibly from a mini crossbow, entered her cheek and came out the back of her head.

Plymouth Animal Control spent about a week trying to trap her. Once she was finally caught, staff at the Cape Wildlife Center in Barnstable sedated her, took X-rays and pulled the arrow out. By sheer luck, it missed her eye and sinuses and did not crack her skull. Dr. Priya Patel, the center’s medical director, told Popular Science she was a “very feisty raccoon,” even inside her cage. She is now on antibiotics and pain medicine and is expected to return to the wild once she heals.

She survived. The next animal might not. No one has been publicly named as the person who fired that arrow.

Raccoon hunting is legal in Massachusetts during set seasons, and one of those seasons is open right now. But hunters and animal lovers can agree that leaving a wounded animal to wander for days with a bolt through her head is not responsible hunting. It is cruelty.

The Massachusetts Environmental Police and the Plymouth Police Department should open an investigation into this shooting, find out whether wildlife or animal cruelty laws were broken, and hold the person responsible accountable. Officials should also set up a public tip line and reward so anyone who saw something can come forward.

Sign the petition to demand justice for this raccoon now, before someone aims at another animal.