Drivers, runners and cyclists traversing south Boulder observed an odd display Thursday morning: a dead raccoon with a “Get well soon!” helium balloon attached to its foot lying in the street.

The orange balloon, covered with cheerful butterflies and flowers, swayed slowly in the breeze on Table Mesa Drive just east of Table Mesa Court.

Below, the raccoon, which presumably had been hit by a car, lay peacefully on its side, paws outstretched in the bike lane.

Contractors working for the city to control traffic during sewer work said they saw a man drive up, tie the balloon to the mask-faced mammal and drive away.

“I just saw a guy hop out of a van and run over there and tie the balloon to its leg,” said Bakari Jiles. “He came back around and took a picture of it, too.”

Jiles guessed the man was in his 40s and that he tied the balloon to the raccoon around 9:30 or 9:45 a.m. Thursday.

His coworker, Kaylen Hollis, didn’t see the man, but did notice when the balloon appeared suddenly. Hollis speculated the man hit the raccoon and felt guilty, since he did not tie a balloon to a dead skunk a few yards away.

“It’s a little disturbing,” Hollis said.

Ellie Meyer, 19, and her cousin Hanna Gould, 20, noticed that dead skunk first and said they were upset by it.

But then they saw the balloon, which they thought was hysterical.

“It’s sad for the raccoon but it really did brighten my day,” Gould said after taking a photo with her phone.

Gould also guessed that the person who tied the balloon to the animal probably killed it and wanted to improve his or her karma.

This isn’t the first time a dead raccoon has drawn sympathy from passersby.

In Toronto last summer, people created a small memorial around a road-kill raccoon with a rose, a framed photograph of a raccoon, notes and other flowers.

Photos of other dead animals with “Get well soon!” balloons have circulated the internet, including opossums, deer and birds.

In Boulder on Thursday, drivers with their windows rolled down could be heard laughing loudly as they passed by the road-kill mammal. One pedestrian crossed over Table Mesa Drive to get to the raccoon and take a picture.

Kim and Caroline Young pulled over in their SUV, hopped out and also snapped a photo.

“I thought it was sad, but then I saw the balloon and I thought it was weird,” said Caroline Young, 9.

“I said to her, ‘Only in Boulder,'” Kim Young added.

By late afternoon, the raccoon’s carcass, and the balloon tethered to it, had been removed from the roadway.

Sarah Kuta: 303-473-1106, kutas@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/sarahkuta