animals

Richardson Girl Wakes Up to Raccoon in Her Bed

The raccoon sneaked past the two dogs and got all nice and cozy in her daughter's bed

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A 10-year-old girl from Richardson, Texas, had a surprise slumber party with a raccoon who crawled into her bunk bed Wednesday night.

Mattie Gelman woke up with him sitting right next to her head. She told her mom that he was gentle -- and even let the girl pet him!

“It’s weird because the first thing I said to it was, ‘Hey buddy." So, it was really calm. It didn’t hiss at me, bite me, scratch me or do anything like that," said Mattie.

A 10-year-old girl from Richardson, Texas, had a surprise slumber party with a raccoon who crawled into her bunk bed Wednesday night.

In a picture, the raccoon poses for the camera while sitting atop pillows in the girl's bunk bed.

The family figured out that the raccoon crawled into the house through the doggy door. Though the family has four large dogs, two of which were out free in the house, none of them noticed the visitor.

“A leaf could blow by, and they’re gonna bark. They hear people talking two houses down and bark. But a raccoon comes through the house and they don’t smell it or notice it, so they can be dog shamed for that," said Mattie's mom, Sibyl.

A family of raccoons held a pool party in Houston and it was caught on camera. Bo Rodriguez says he didn’t realize it happened until he checked his security footage and found the ring-tailed bandits in his backyard at about 4 a.m. The raccoons seemed to be enjoying the early morning dip until the neighbor’s dog barked at them and...

She said when Mattie first woke her to tell her about the visitor, she didn't believe her. Then she heard a scuffle in the hall as the dogs began to catch on before she saw him with her own eyes.

“My jaw dropped to the ground. The very first words out of my mouth were, 'Oh my God, it’s a raccoon!' And then, 'Where in the world did this come from? How did a raccoon get in here? Is a door open? Is there a hole in the wall? Where are the dogs? Is everyone okay?' And it was just sitting on her pillow looking at me like, ‘what?'” Gelman said.

This raccoon got stuck inside a vending machine inside a high school in Florida. Animal Control officers and police rescued the animal and released him outside.

After a failed attempt to lure the raccoon out with leftover Valentine's Day candy, Gelman said they managed to force it into a box to eventually release it in their front yard. She said he was never aggressive or scared.

According to the Humane Society, it's highly unusual for a raccoon to be aggressive toward a person, but people should still avoid touching wild animals.

Police officers in Bedford aren't used to this kind of pursuit.

NBC 5's Allie Spillyards contributed to this report.

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