When There is a Raccoon in the Building . . .

Lock yourself in your office!

I am the first one to work in the morning.  I unlock the doors, turn off the alarm, go to my office to change into my work shoes, then I turn the lights on throughout the building and back to my office to start work. This takes a little while since it's a BIG building!

A few weeks ago, I walked into the building, turned off the alarm and then turned the corner.  There is a garbage can next to the water cooler and the can was knocked over and some of the garbage was on the floor.  I knew something was wrong in my world.

I went into my dark office and changed my shoes, all the while telling myself that there is nothing to be worried about.  All was good in my world.

I walked out of my office, turned to the left towards the lab (where all of the office light switches are) and THERE it was!  A freakin' raccoon, turning the corner towards the lab!  AARGH!

I went back to my office, grabbed my purse, closed my office door and went back to the front door.  There, I kept my eye on the hallway to make sure that the raccoon stayed where he was.  I wanted to make sure he did not come back to my part of the building.  I called just about everyone I had on speed dial.

First I called our property manager, no answer.  Then I called one of the owners, no answer.  Then I called one of the guys that works in the shop, no answer.  I called 911!  They answered but were kind of unimpressed.  She gave me a few numbers for local wildlife trappers, but wouldn't send someone over with a gun or a net or a fire truck with a hook and ladder.  Hey, I was in panic mode.  I would have been ok with the National Guard coming over at that moment.  What the hell.  I was so frustrated that I called my brother, in CHINA.  Lucky for him because I went to his voicemail and swore at him like a marine would.  Yeah, not my proudest moment.

This is on one side of me:

The raccoon was obviously inside of the building above the drop ceiling.  As he walked across this tile, the tile gave away and he crashed to the floor.  Sheesh, not good.

On the other side of me was the last place I saw the critter.  There is a door right around the corner that goes into the lab, and I felt if I could just get that door shut I could stop my panic because the raccoon was on the other side of that door. Unfortunately, I wasn't going to be the one to walk down that hallway and around a blind corner and shut that door!  Who knows if that raccoon was just around the corner on MY side of the door ready to bite me!?!?

Yes, I was in the middle of a hissy fit and a panic attack.  I guess that would be a hissy attack!  Whatever it was, it wasn't pretty.

I started on my list again.  I called the property manager and this time he answered the phone.  I gave him an earful and he promised he be there in 30 minutes.  I think he was hoping that by then I'd pull my claws back in.

I called one of the owners.  I woke him up and gave HIM an earful on why he needed to be in the building immediately.  I don't think he agreed with my hissy attack but whatever.  He wasn't in the building with a killer raccoon!  He did show up pretty quickly at the building with this:

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if he walked in the building with this because of the killer raccoon or because of me!  Makes ya think, huh?

Lo and behold, one of the guys from the shop came in first.  In the middle of my hissy attack, I explained what happened so far that morning, and he was nice enough to walk down the hall, around that blind corner and close the door to the lab.  That meant that I know for sure he was not on my side of the building, but closed in between the lab and another office.  I was sort of jiggy with that, but I closed myself in my office for the rest of the day just in case.

Eventually, I had the guy from the shop, the property manager and an owner, all trying to find and catch this raccoon.  Granted, I was in a self imposed lock down in my office, but I was imagining a little bit of a three stooges routine happening out there.  After all was said and done . . . they could find NO raccoon in the building.

I know there are a kajillion hiding places in the lab alone so there was no way I was trusting their opinion that the raccoon found his way out.  I stayed locked in my office.

The next day, kinda the same thing.  I ran through the building screaming like a banshee making a lot of noise and turning on all the lights when I first got there in the morning.  If he was still in the building, I wanted to make sure that he was more afraid of me than I was of him, as if that was possible. 

Finally, the guys showed me why they thought the raccoon found his own way out.  I'm not sure if I buy it but whatever.

First, the footprints where he tried to climb up the wall:

I guess he couldn't reach up high enough.  There was a shelving unit just to the right of this, so they assumed he climbed up the shelving unit, then up and out:

It may not be obvious in these pictures, but you can definitely see raccoon hand prints up this wall.  I can almost get behind the fact that the raccoon made it up to the ceiling but I find it hard to believe that he was smart enough to lift the ceiling tile and then put it right back down where it belonged!

Up above this drop ceiling is the hole to the outside where they figured the raccoon was getting in and out.  They set a live trap outside of that hole and they did end up catching a raccoon that first night.  I caught such a fast glimpse of him in the building, I couldn't guarantee that was the same raccoon, but . . .

The property manager took the live cage away and released the raccoon far away from our building.  Here's hoping he finds a new and safe life, away from this crazy lady.

So, I no longer lock myself in my office.  But I definitely keep an extra eye open when I walk into the building in the morning!  And for now the drama of wildlife in the building is thankfully over.