A fourth and final raccoon to escape from an island zoo has now been rescued and reunited with its sisters.

Amazon World Zoo Park, near Sandown on the Isle of Wight, asked islanders for help on Friday after four 18-month-old female raccoons escaped from their enclosure.

Three of the animals were found on Monday and the last escapee was rescued at 02:30 GMT.

Rachel Patrick, the zoo’s head of care, said she was “elated and so happy we have them all back.”

None of the escapees left the zoo premises and all are unharmed.

Sniffer dogs and thermal cameras were used to try to detect the animals.

Patrick said the last sister was seen “in a little crevice” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

The search team had set up a trap in the area, with meat inside, but the young raccoon bothered them for seven hours.

“He kept getting closer and suddenly he decided he wasn’t going to go in,” she said.

There are five raccoon sisters on the site, each named after parts of the US where the animals live in the wild.

Winnipeg, Dakota, Myrtle and Alma left Marion behind Thursday night after they “blasted a hole in the roof” of their enclosure, Ms. Patrick said.

They are now being held in a temporary facility while repairs are being made to the roof of their facility.

“They are very happy to be back together and have been sleeping on top of each other throughout the night,” Patrick said.

He added: “Thank you to everyone who offered help and your kind words and messages kept us going.”

Tony Stevens runs a volunteer organization that uses trained dogs to track down lost dogs.

He said the group offered their services to the zoo when it asked for help.

“We’ve been doing everything we can,” Stevens said, adding that it had been “a huge team effort on the part of the community.”

Tracking dogs used the scent of raccoon straw bedding to try to locate the location of the missing animals.

“It was a new experience for the dogs,” Stevens said.

Meanwhile, Ben Ford, a commercial drone specialist, offered his help and had been searching for the fugitives since Sunday.

He said it was difficult to distinguish raccoons from other animals, especially when they wandered into the dense foliage.

His team used thermal cameras to help locate the sisters.

• Raccoons live throughout the United States, except in parts of the Rocky Mountains and deserts. They are also found in Canada and Central America.
• They are excellent climbers and can scale almost any surface thanks to their sharp claws and agile legs.
• The animals are known for their dark, bandit-like masks. One theory is that distinctive dark markings help them see clearly. They deflect the sun’s glare and can also improve night vision.
• Raccoons are very intelligent animals and are known to solve complex puzzles and escape from captivity.
• They are omnivores, meaning they eat both meat and vegetables. They like grasshoppers, nuts, berries, mice, squirrels, and bird eggs.
• Raccoons can live 16 years in the wild, but often only live an average of five years.

Fountain: National Wildlife Federation