It was a Saturday morning like any other for teacher, Alex Peterson. Finally, the weekend came. She intended to use it to enjoy the activities that bring her joy, which she does not have time for during busy workdays.
However, she couldn’t have guessed that the weekend would last a bit longer than usual this time. The first indication of this was the email she received that day from her school’s assistant principal.
Namely, some wild animal fell through a ceiling tile into the school and had no intention of getting out. Since she lives in Colorado, where wild animals are not a surprising occurrence, Alex thought it would all be solved quickly.
But, she was up to a surprise.
An Unexpected “Guest”
A little later that day, Alex found out that a raccoon was on the loose at their school and that they had to catch it by Monday so that classes could continue. Since it was Saturday, Alex was still convinced that the school employees would surely solve this wildlife problem by then.
“We needed to stay out of the building until it was caught,” Alex told The Dodo. “I definitely laughed when I got the email but really didn’t think much of it because we are located in Colorado right by the foothills — wildlife is an everyday thing.”
She spent the Saturday enjoying herself and not thinking about that event, convinced that she would return to work on Monday. However, on Sunday, she found out that things got complicated and that it would be more challenging than she thought at first.
“On Sunday, we got a second email saying that raccoons are harder to catch than initially suspected, so the building was closed for the entire weekend,” Alex said.
Later that evening, Alex received another email that she least expected – she was informed that they had not yet managed to catch the raccoon, and that because of this, classes would be canceled on Monday.
As cute as these little creatures are, they can be very dangerous when cornered, especially since they can transmit the rabies virus if they bite.
That’s why it’s always better to use well-thought-out strategies to keep raccoons away, rather than allowing them to roam freely near households, schools, or any public places.
However, this whole situation was still unbelievable to Alex. Until then, it happened that the school was closed because of a snow day, but Alex never thought that she would experience a raccoon day.
“I was cracking up,” Alex said. “I texted everyone I thought would be amused by this news and told them that school was canceled tomorrow for a ‘Raccoon Day!’ I also instantly texted one of my coworkers to see if she wanted to go hiking because we had an unexpected day off, and then another coworker to see if she wanted to go have coffee.”
The sudden day off had to be put to good use!
Finally “Arrested”
When Alex and her other colleagues enjoyed their unexpected day off so much, you can only imagine how happy the students were.
However, the unlucky one that day was a tiny raccoon that the employees finally managed to “bring to justice.”
“Monday morning we received the text around 9 a.m. that she had been caught — attached was a cute picture of her in the trap,” Alex said. “The classroom she was finally caught in had curriculum materials nibbled on.”
That is how this three-day saga finally ended. But, in the end, everyone was satisfied – the raccoon was soon released into the wilderness, and the teachers and students had the best Monday ever.
Animals can sometimes truly make us happy in ways we can’t even imagine.