Attack of the giant raccoons!

Just after they moved into their new place near the intersection of Brush Creek Boulevard and Gillham Road last summer, Nate Charlson and Tami Meccan were unloading some groceries from their car. Their infant daughter was still strapped in as they hoisted out the Costco bags. All of a sudden, in jumped a giant raccoon.

“It had to be 50 pounds,” Charlson says. “It was the size of a dog. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Fearing for his daughter’s safety, Charlson grabbed at the indignant animal. The raccoon was unimpressed. Charlson started kicking at it, wearing nothing but a pair of Addidas slippers. “I probably could have lost a foot,” he says. “It sneered at me and finally jaunted away. It wasn’t afraid of people.”

Charlson and his neighbors spent the summer months under attack. Now, the current heat wave is raising concerns of a second strike.