Raccoon breaks into Virginia liquor store, drinks whisky and passes out by toilet

Drunk raccoon trashes liquor store

Employees at a state run liquor store in Ashland, Virginia, walked into an unexpected crime scene on the morning of November 29. Shelves were disturbed, at least 14 bottles of spirits lay shattered on the floor and liquor was pooled across the aisles. At first glance, it looked like a late night burglary. The culprit, it turned out, was a raccoon that had apparently drunk itself into a stupor and then passed out in the staff bathroom near the toilet.

According to Hanover County Animal Protection and local media reports, the animal is believed to have entered the Virginia ABC liquor store by falling through a ceiling tile sometime overnight. Security alarms were triggered but, with no obvious sign of human intruders, the mess was only discovered when staff arrived to open the shop after the Thanksgiving break. The particular focus of damage on the bottom shelf, where scotch and whisky were stored, led officers to conclude that the raccoon had both broken bottles and consumed some of the spilled alcohol.

Animal control officer Samantha Martin was called to the scene and found the “masked bandit” asleep on the bathroom floor, between the toilet and a bin. She later told reporters that the raccoon had gone on a “full blown rampage, drinking everything,” before finally collapsing. Photos shared by Hanover County Animal Protection on social media show liquor soaked flooring, broken glass and the animal lying motionless near the toilet.

Martin transported the raccoon to the county shelter to sober up. Officials there said that after a few hours of rest the animal showed no signs of injury “other than maybe a hangover and poor life choices,” and it was released back into the wild. Virginia ABC said the total loss was around 250 dollars in damaged stock and that no structural harm was done to the shop, which reopened once the cleanup was complete.

The episode quickly went viral, picked up by local television stations, national outlets and international websites, many of which shared the now famous pictures of the raccoon facedown near the toilet. Wildlife experts note that raccoons are opportunistic and increasingly comfortable in urban spaces, although liquor fuelled escapades remain a rarity even for these adaptable “trash pandas.”