New Canaan police on a recent morning prodded awake a raccoon that had climbed into a family’s SUV overnight, then ate a lot of junk food inside the vehicle and fell asleep on the driver’s side floor.
The call came in as a report of a “coyote”—from the kids who came upon the slumbering animal as they climbed into the family car to get to school, according to a police report.
Police responded to the call at about 9:06 a.m. on May 22 (a Thursday).
“We found a raccoon there, and there was food everywhere, so obviously he had made himself right at home,” Animal Control Officer Maryann Kleinschmitt said. “He got into a soda bottle. He got into a popcorn bag. And he got into a candy bar. He was sleeping on the driver’s side floor and he was a big raccoon.”
It would have been very unusual to find a sleeping coyote in a car, Kleinschmitt said, unless it was a pup. In that case, backup would be required because the young coyote’s protective mother would have been lurking nearby, she said.
“It would be easy enough to get the puppy out, but mom would have been very aggressive, would have come after me,” Kleinschmitt said.