Overnight staff at Local 12 in Cincinnati got more than the usual late shift lull this week when a raccoon wandered into the station’s newsroom, apparently looking for a warm place to ride out the brutal cold. The animal was caught on camera rummaging through a trash can, then darting back toward the edge of the control room while employees looked on from a safe distance. Staff filmed the encounter, traded nervous laughs, and alerted management.
In a post on X, Local 12 chief meteorologist John Gumm said employees had “suspected someone had broken into @Local12 and had been secretly living inside the station to escape the brutally cold winter weather” and that “the authorities have been alerted,” as reported by Origo. The short post included a clip credited to a Local 12 engineer, whom staff identified as Noah Schuler in social threads.
Raccoon Caught On Camera
The video shows the raccoon zeroing in on a newsroom trash can and carefully digging through it, at one point nearly toppling the can while stretching for something at the bottom, details reported by the New York Post. Recorded during an overnight shift, the clip quickly made the rounds online and drew joking comparisons to a mascot for the after-hours office crowd.
Anchors and producers leaned into the absurdity on social media. Anchor Meghan Mongillo joked on Facebook that “Local 12 has a new employee helping us put the show on the air,” according to reporting in CTI News. Viewers chimed in with quips about ID badges and lunch breaks, while station staff reiterated that they had contacted the proper authorities.
Why The Raccoon May Have Come Inside
Raccoons are highly adaptable urban survivors that routinely forage in trash and seek out sheltered, food-rich spots when temperatures plunge. The National Park Service notes that raccoons will use manmade structures for denning and shelter, and reporting by National Geographic has documented how city raccoons learn to work human spaces for both warmth and easy meals.
If You Find Wildlife Inside A Building
Officials generally advise people not to approach wild animals and instead to call local animal services or 311 so trained responders can handle removal. The City of Cincinnati posts guidance and contact information for animal issues on its police department pages. It was not immediately clear from station posts whether the raccoon had been removed from the Local 12 building after employees alerted authorities, per the New York Post…