Raccoon break-in ends with ‘masked bandits’ chased from Bay Area bank

A pair of masked bandits failed to get their paws on any cash when they broke into a Bay Area bank earlier this week, officials say.

The attempted heist ended with the raccoon intruders being chased from the Redwood City bank early Tuesday according to the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA.

The bank was closed at the time, but the critters were spotted by a man using an ATM. He at first though they were stuffed animals sitting on a desk, but realized they were live raccoons when they began scurrying about, officials said.

Bank managers called for the help of an animal rescue crew.

“It’s not every day an animal organization gets called to deal with a bank break in, but since the bank robbers were masked bandits of the wildlife kind, we were indeed the appropriate responders,” Buffy Martin Tarbox, communications manager for the humane society, said in a statement.

The rescue staff chased the bandits around the bank for about 10 minutes before they were able to get them to flee. “They apparently didn’t want to leave the bank,” Tarbox said.

The messy marauders also left a trail of muddy tracks up a tree outside the bank, leading investigators to believe they climbed onto the roof and managed to access the air duct system. From there, it’s suspected they fell through the ceiling and into the building.

“There were several broken ceiling tiles, and the masked bandits knocked papers around and even a computer over,” according to Tarbox. “Thankfully the raccoons were not injured during their morning escapade, and to our knowledge they didn’t abscond with any money.”