Raccoons invade Houston apartment, taunt resident through window

Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A Houston woman arrived home to find her apartment had been invaded by raccoons and she captured video of the unusual burglars in her windows.

The woman, whose name was variously reported as Brittany Baldwin and Brittany Alexander, said she arrived home at the Trails of Dominion Park Apartments in northern Harris County on Wednesday morning when she noticed something in her windows.

"[They] were sitting there in my blinds rustling at the window trying to get out," the woman told KTRK-TV.

Brittany captured video of the animals, which she quickly identified as raccoons, while trying to figure out what she should do about the invaders.

"I was scared, angry and just not knowing what my next move was going to be," she said.

Brittany contacted the apartment office, hoping they would contact pest control, but they instead sent out the staff maintenance workers.

"They're not trained for that," she said. "One of the maintenance men ran off behind a dumpster and after him, a raccoon runs off and runs up the tree."

One raccoon escaped, while another was captured by maintenance. The captured animal's fate was unclear.

Brittany said the inside of her home was trashed.

"They went and just knocked everything down like a burglar, and they sat in my window looking back at me film them in my apartment," she told KPRC-TV.

"They've been all over my closet, in my clothes, in my bed, in my daughter's bed," Baldwin said.

Brittany said the apartment complex patched up the hole in the attic the raccoons used to enter the residence, but she wants to be moved to another unit. She said the complex agreed to allow her to relocate to another apartment on the property, but it told her she would be responsible for the moving costs.

"You can't help me, and I'm paying rent here and thinking that it's a safe environment. I'm hurt and furious," she said. "I don't want to touch anything because I know that this is wild animals and they carry all types of diseases."