Saturday morning was supposed to be the start of a relaxing weekend for teacher Alex Peterson. After a busy week at school, she planned to recharge at home and spend time on the little hobbies she enjoys most.
Instead, her weekend quickly took an unexpected turn, and it all started with an email from her school’s assistant principal.
The note explained that a wild animal had dropped through a ceiling tile and was now roaming somewhere inside the building.
Since Alex lives and works in Colorado, she’s no stranger to wildlife, so she assumed it would be handled quickly and quietly.
That assumption did not hold for long.
An Unexpected Guest Causes A Big Problem
Later that same day, Alex received another update, this time clarifying what staff were dealing with. A raccoon had been spotted moving through the school, and the goal was to have it safely removed before Monday so classes could continue as normal.
With it only being Saturday, Alex figured there was plenty of time for the situation to be resolved.
“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 went ahead with her weekend plans, expecting the issue to be a minor hiccup. But by Sunday, another message arrived, and it became clear this was turning into something bigger than anyone predicted.
“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.
Even by Sunday evening, there still was no clear solution. Then came a third update that surprised everyone. Monday classes were officially canceled because the raccoon was still inside the school.
The decision was not just about inconvenience. Raccoons can seem harmless from a distance, but they are unpredictable animals, and there is also the risk of illness, including rabies.
For safety reasons, the building could not reopen until staff knew the animal had been removed.
For Alex, the whole situation felt both unreal and funny. Snow days were familiar, but this was an entirely new category of school closure.
“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.”
With the custodial team working to solve the problem, Alex and her coworkers tried to enjoy the surprise break.
What could have been a stressful interruption turned into a day that felt almost like a bonus holiday.
The School Finally Gets Answers
By Monday morning, students were just as entertained as the teachers by the idea of an unexpected “raccoon day.” Word traveled fast, and plenty of families had a new story to talk about at home.
For the raccoon, though, the day ended very differently. Around 9 a.m., Alex received yet another update, and this one came with a photo attached.
“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.”
With the raccoon safely contained, the school could finally move forward. The animal was released back into the wild, and the unexpected standoff inside the building came to a close.
The school reopened the following day, and students arrived with plenty of questions, jokes, and excitement.
A simple wildlife incident had turned into something the whole community would remember. Sometimes the strangest visitor leaves behind more laughter than frustration, and in this case, it even brought an unplanned day off.
