Raccoon Family Takes Up Residence in Apartment Ceiling

Occurred on April 12, 2024 / Lauderdale Lakes, Florida, USA

Info from Licensor: "My name is Jem Calobrace, and I am the owner of The Viral TikTok Creature. My veteran husband Jon Calobrace and I live in Florida. We moved into this apartment last year, where I discovered we are not the only ones enjoying the comfort of our home. Since January, we've been hearing scratches and noises in our entryway, along with a strong smell of urine inside our house, which we couldn't identify. I was frustrated and bothered primarily by the smell, and later on we just brushed it off, thinking it was only a squirrel. I just kept using alcohol spray and a diffuser to remove the smell, and since we're not home most of the day, we didn't notice it much. That changed when I bought a Ring camera. I was home alone on April 12 when I finally caught the creature on my phone. My husband wasn't home at the time. I was at the dining table when the Ring camera kept sending me motion alerts. I came to check, but nobody was there, and I found out it was the falling wood dust that was giving me alerts. Then I heard loud scratches in the ceiling, similar to noises I had previously assumed were from a neighbor's repair work. So, I went out to check again and saw a crazy and terrifying claw! I really thought it was a creepy monster, iguana, or alligator. I was frozen and could not even shout. I didn’t call 911 or the police, instead, I grabbed a knife and a broomstick and called the admin office, but they responded an hour later. By then, the creature was gone. The maintenance person finally came back and checked on April 15 at 1 PM. He opened the ceiling but didn't see anything. Later, when my husband and I went out for groceries and were on our way home, my Ring started sending me motion alerts. I didn’t check because using my phone in the car makes me feel dizzy, and besides, we were just 1-2 minutes away. And when we finally arrived at 6 pm, boom – there were huge raccoons in our ceiling and door! They were really huge in person! I was really scared but my husband was very calm because he really loves animals. It was our first time seeing raccoons in person. Then, at midnight on April 16, they all came out from the ceiling and one raccoon was staring at me! Our ceiling has remained open. The admin office hired animal control but decided not to intervene, advising me to wait 1-2 weeks for the raccoons to emerge and relocate on their own. Nobody wants to approach them. Also, we don't want to hire our own wildlife control to relocate them as it is very expensive. My only concern is the health risk from urine and feces. At the end of the day, I feel bad for the mother raccoon and her babies, but this is our home too."