Rescue Raccoon Named Louie Earns $7K Prize After Winning Cadbury's Annual Easter Photo Contest

Louie is a 2-year-old raccoon from Miami

Louie the raccoon is a star!

Earlier this week, Cadbury announced that the animal is the winner of the company's sixth annual bunny tryouts — a competition where owners submit their pets with hopes that they will be chosen as the next Cadbury bunny.

Louie, Cadbury said, is a 2-year-old raccoon from Miami who was rescued by his owner, Jaime Arslan, in 2021.

"We're thrilled that Louie has been chosen as the winner of this year's Cadbury bunny tryouts — we are longtime fans of the Cadbury brand and are honored to see Louie join the long legacy of incredible Cadbury bunnies," Arslan said in a statement.

Louie now joins past winners of the competition, including Crash the Rescue Cat (2023), Annie Rose the Therapy Dog (2022), Betty the Frog (2021), Lieutenant Dan the Treeing Walker Coonhound (2020) and Henri the English Bulldog (2019).

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Related: Crash the One-Eyed Rescue Cat Becomes the First Feline to Win the Cadbury Bunny Tryouts

For the first time since the competition was created, the Cadbury bunny tryouts featured a bracket-style elimination tournament on Instagram, where fans voted for their favorites.

"Each year we look forward to crowning a new Cadbury bunny, especially this year [when] we engaged fans in a new way through our bracket-style competition. It was incredible to see pet lovers getting in on the fun," Natalie Shuntich, senior associate marketing manager at The Hershey Company, said in a statement.

She added, "Witnessing how fans participated in each wave of voting, and the loving support for our 30 cute finalists from Cadbury fans across the U.S. is a testament to the love for the Cadbury brand."

For his winning role, Louie will take home $7,000 in prize money, and he is set to have a starring role in an upcoming Cadbury bunny tryouts commercial.

"Louie's TV debut in Cadbury's 2025 commercial can't come soon enough!" said his owner.

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