Oregon police apprehend gang of raccoons in art gallery
NEWPORT, Ore. (AP) - Police in the Oregon town of Newport say they were able to capture a gang of "masked bandits" seen snooping around and rearranging a display at an art gallery that were actually raccoons.
Inscapes Gallery owner Cris Torp told KPTV-TV that Newport police caught four raccoons red-pawed Tuesday night.
The Newport Police Department decided to have some fun with the story, posting a photo on their Facebook page and identifying the "masked bandits" by their street names of "Home Dog," "Da Nails," "Squeaky Feets" and "Two-Toes Todd."
Torp says the raccoons have been making frequent visits. He thought he'd fixed the problem by sealing off roof vents, but the animals were already in a crawl space inside the gallery.
They are so small that they didn't set off the burglar alarm. Torp thinks they were inside for two hours before a passer-by called police.
He says the coons didn't cause much damage but did try to rearrange some artwork.