A raccoon apparently attempting to score a free snack wound up getting trapped inside a vending machine at a Florida high school on Wednesday and had to be freed by animal control.
“This gentleman was apprehended today while committing a burglary of a vending machine at Pine Ridge High School,” wrote the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook.
“We think he made it in through the bottom door,” sheriff’s spokesman Andrew Gant told HuffPost in an email. According to Gant, multiple students, along with a sheriff’s deputy who was already on the school campus, spotted the raccoon inside the machine and the deputy contacted animal control.
A video posted by the department Wednesday afternoon shows the raccoon being sprung from the machine ― which had been wheeled outside ― and scampering to freedom.
Spokeswoman Laura Williams, who described the raccoon as a “wacky guy,” added that in order to free him, they had to wait until someone from the vending machine company came to unlock the machine. That meant the raccoon was stuck for about four hours. Neither Gant nor Williams was sure whether he actually ate any snacks during that time.
Either way, they wish him the best.
“We hope he’s well-fed and recovering from the experience,” said Gant.