Written by Maggie Samples // Graphic by Makayla McDonald
Residents found a raccoon in habiting the ceiling of Pryor Hall resulting in the students’ relocation for a week.
Seniors Mikayla Maynard and Carly Collett and juniors Emily Palmer and Bethany Stevens live together in Pryor 316. On Saturday, Nov. 11, Stevens, Maynard, Palmer and a few others were watching a movie in the dorm when they heard a noise from the ceiling.
“Mikayla goes and opens the pantry, and she just sees eyes,” Stevens said.
The students called Public Safety, but when they responded, the raccoon was in the ceiling and couldn’t be captured.
“As I was looking, I saw a little shadow,” Public Safety officer Mike Mounga said. “I kept looking for like 15 minutes, but I couldn’t really find it.”
Mounga told the residents to call Public Safety if they heard more noise.
Collett said that she heard the raccoon later that night and found it rummaging through the food in their pantry. Collett called Public Safety, but the raccoon returned to the ceiling before they arrived.
“They [were] like, ‘Sorry, there’s nothing we can do, but if you catch it in this bucket, we’ll come back,’” Collett said. “[They said] ‘good luck’ and left.”
According to Collett, they decided to lure the raccoon out of the ceiling, and it was sitting in the pantry when they called Public Safety for the third time.
“Public Safety walks in, and [the raccoon] reaches down, grabs hot dog buns and returns back into the ceiling,” Collett said.
Collett said the Public Safety officers set up a trap containing bread and ramen noodles before leaving.
Maynard is a resident assistant and was communicating with Pryor residence life coordinator Mary Margaret Fish, who arranged for them to stay at the Heritage Inn.
The suitemates said that this has been a bonding experience for them. They have named the raccoon “Remy.”
“I don’t know if this is valuable information, but we have found that this raccoon has a particular diet of plain bread,” Palmer said. “It doesn’t really like peanut butter, obviously. I’m skeptical that it’s going to enjoy Spam or anchovies like everyone has been suggesting to us. I think it’s just the hot dog buns.”
The raccoon remains uncaptured, but they were able to move back into their dorm after returning from Thanksgiving break.
“[Public Safety] put the trap in the ceiling, and they keep checking it to see if it’s there,” Maynard said. “However, there has been no signs of him since the Tuesday before break.”
