By Kerry Golden
It was a wild long weekend for the residents of village where they had an unlikely visitor after taking out the trash.
“So our trash was basically sitting right there and we saw a raccoon. We opened the door and the raccoon just came right in” Dan Roth, sophomore
The raccoon incident happened right here outside of village 673 where the animal came in through those grates, into the students room where it eventually tried to find another way out being this window right here. It got stuck and animal control and public safety had to come and cut a hole in the screen in order for the animal to be set free.
“It went in my closet, it went all over our beds, it was kind of gross, but nothing really that bad.”
Director of Residential Life Mark Devillbis stressed the importance of a quick and safe response
“Well our first priority is student safety. We are glad that the gentlemen affected by the raccoon that got in at village last week, they did what we hope any student would do which is reach out right away for help.” Mark DeVillbis
“We really didn’t know what to do. We called public safety, they called Hamden police and we didn’t know how to get it out. There was no animal control on duty because it was a holiday. They had to cut the screen. It was crazy honestly.” Dan Roth
Devilbiss said there are a few things students can do to avoid a similar situation in the future
“I think its important students not leave entry points open for long periods of time so that’s like propping doors, leaving window screens open for long periods of time.” Mark DeVillbis
“The other things residents can do is keep a clean room. I think animals are attracted to food waste or strong smells, things like that so keeping a clean space will lessen the likelihood that an animal will even want to come in.”
Reporting from Village, Kerry Golden, Q30 News.