According to a report from Times Union in Albany, Sam Fein, an Albany County Legislator, 6th District, was enjoying a weekend in Lake George when he received a call telling him about a potential intruder in his apartment.
A tenant in Fein’s brownstone reportedly told him they heard “footsteps” coming from inside the property. Eager to investigate but unable to do so himself, Fein enlisted the help of a friend who went over to find out what was going on.
He was quickly able to identify the perpetrators: A gang of raccoons had gotten into the apartment, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
While the exact reasons behind the break-in are unknown, experts have previously noted that one of the key reasons raccoons raid property is in search of food.
As Jeremy Yamaguchi, the owner of gardening and maintenance business Lawn Love, explained in an interview with Real Homes: “Raccoons are smart and resourceful. If they can access food, they’ll do everything in their power to get to it.”
That was certainly the case for Fein. However, in this instance, his four-legged intruders took things a little further than that.
Fein told Newsweek: “They ransacked the pantry and managed to break into a cabinet where I had an American flag folded up and pooped on it.”
He joked: “These raccoons are not very patriotic and aren’t grateful enough for the abundance of waste we create in this country.”
This isn’t the first time he’s had to deal with a raccoon break-in either. In fact, it’s the third in the space of just a few weeks.
“The first time a raccoon came in through the back door when I left it open for my cat,” he said. “The next time, I put in a pet door for my cat, but it wasn’t yet securely installed so three raccoons broke through the door, pushing it out of the window.”
On that occasion, he once again found his entire pantry raided and even came face-to-face with the gang of raccoons that tried to evade capture by hiding under his bed.
The furry fiends certainly appear to have been making themselves at home during their visits with Fein, with footage showing one of the gang casually walking around his apartment without a care in the world.
Fein said this latest break-in came about because the raccoons clawed through a screen over one of his windows before making their way in. “The cleanup was annoying but there was no permanent damage,” he said. “I had to throw out some food, spray cleaning fluid and scrub a lot, and put back the food and bottles in the pantry that were all over the floor.”
Fein has since concluded that the smell of his cat’s food might be what is drawing them into his apartment.
Whatever the case, he’s keen to learn from his mistakes and implement change. “Now I’m more careful about closing the door and the windows,” he said.
