An employee from the Milwaukee church discovered the wrecked building when she arrived at the place of worship
Wild raccoon caught on camera 'red-pawed' after breaking into Wisconsin church
Services were canceled at a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, church after a pastor arrived at the church facilities and discovered it had been broken in by a raccoon. (FOX 6)
An employee from a nondenominational church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was greeted with an unexpected sight when she arrived at their place of worship only to find that it had been ransacked by a raccoon bandit that had broken into the building and wrecked havoc.
Ingrid Durr said she arrived at Chosen Generation Outreach Ministry in Milwaukee to prepare for Thursday evening's services when she found signs of a break-in. The pastor found a broken window, several ceiling tiles broken, and church reading material scattered throughout.
"I said, ‘Oh, somebody must’ve thrown a brick in there or something," Durr told FOX 6.
Ingrid Durr found a pesky raccoon on a table in the church's kitchen area. (FOX 6 Milwaukee)
The "little pest" left a mess of the church staff's belongings. Ingrid Durr said the church was forced to not have their Thursday evening service because of the intruder. (FOX 6 Milwaukee)
Durr said she immediately went on her phone to access the church's security camera footage and quickly identified the unlikely culprit — a wild raccoon.
Durr said that the comical surveillance video captured the furry intruder "red-pawed" perched on one of the tables in the church's kitchen and wandering around the building.
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"I’m looking through my phone and my footage and everything around the building, and that’s when I see this little rascal on the table," said Durr. "I saw it walk away, seen the long tail, and I said, ‘That’s a raccoon.’"
Ingrid Durr said she arrived at Chosen Generation Outreach Ministry in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to prepare for Thursday evening's services on to find that a wild raccoon had broken into their place of worship. (FOX 6 Milwaukee)
She said that raccoon had climbed up a tree adjacent to the church and broke in through a window.
"That’s the only one that’s not welcome: the raccoon," she said.
That’s the only one that’s not welcome: the raccoon.
— Ingrid Durr
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Durr recruited some neighborhood help to make sure the masked rascal had left the church.
"I believe it’s a beacon of light here," she said. "It’s probably looking for food, and I’m hoping it didn’t open the refrigerator."
The raccoon left a path of destruction — ransacking through church materials and creating a mess. (FOX 6 Milwaukee)
The pastor said that the furry menace overstayed it's welcome and left parts of the church in disarray.
"The office is still [out of] whack, but at least I know what it was now, little rascal running around," said Durr.
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten is a writer on the breaking news team for Fox News Digital. You can reach her on Twitter at @s_rumpfwhitten.
