Bank / Credit Union
2 "masked bandits" break into a Chase branch
October 23, 2020
A Chase bank customer had stopped into a Redwood City, Calif. branch at approximately 7:30 a.m. to use the ATM when something caught his eye within the lobby that was not yet opened for business.
At first, he thought it was a stuffed animal sitting on desk. Then it moved.
Two young raccoons had managed to sneak into the main area of the bank and had a wild time knocking over computer monitors, throwing papers on the floor and munching on a stash of almond cookies, according to a KPIX/CBS San Francisco report.
The ATM customer called the local humane society which in turn contacted the bank manager. The manager gave bank access to the animal rescue organization to enter and remove the raccoons.
It took approximately 10 minutes for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA to lure the raccoons from the bank. The animal rescue staffers searched the building for the entry point and suspected the raccoons got onto the bank's roof by climbing up a tree, then entered an air duct and broke through the ceiling tiles to the main bank below.
"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, Thankfully the raccoons were not injured during their morning escapade, and to our knowledge they didn't abscond with any money," Buffy Martin Tarbox, a Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA spokesperson, told the news outlet.
