A Virginia raccoon had a long night at a liquor store. An employee at the store found the raccoon in the bathroom on Saturday morning after it apparently passed out next to a bunch of smashed whiskey bottles, according to The Guardian.
“He fell through one of the ceiling tiles and went on a full-blown rampage, drinking everything,” local animal control officer Samantha Martin said in an interview with the Daily Mail.
Photos published by The Daily Mail showed the raccoon lying on the bathroom floor between the toilet and a trash bin.
“Another day in the life of an animal control officer, I guess,” Martin told The Daily Mail.
A drunk raccoon passed out in a Virginia liquor store bathroom
Martin said the raccoon was taken to the animal shelter before being released back into the wild: “After a few hours of sleep and zero signs of injury (other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices), he was safely released back to the wild, hopefully having learned that breaking and entering is not the answer,” The Hanover County Animal Protection and Shelter said, according to The Daily Mail.
Raccoons are commonly found in urban areas
A recent study found that raccoons are now adapting to urban areas and showing physical changes — a sign of domestication. According to the study, those changes include shorter snouts, smaller teeth, smaller brains and floppy ears.
Dr. Raffaela Lesch, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said raccoons are also attracted to trash, as are most other animals.
“Wherever humans go, there is trash,” Lesch told The Guardian. “Animals love our trash. It’s an easy source of food. All they have to do is endure our presence, not be aggressive, and then they can feast on anything we throw away.”