Raccoons Take Over Norwood GNC

For nearly two full-days a pair of raccoons took over a local GNC shop, that remained shut until their eventual capture.

Police were initially called to the vitamin supplement shop, located at 3453 Jerome Avenue in the Norwood section, at just after 9 a.m. on Thursday, September 29, when the employee reported two intruders of the furry, four-legged kind.

One cop joked to the gathered crowd, many now taking photographs, “Maybe we can get them on a breaking and entering charge.”

Knox Place resident Ralph Beck noticed the commotion, stating, “I thought it was a break-in or a robbery, because the police were standing in front of the building… and I’m looking and then I see the raccoons knocking things off the shelves.”

Beck can see the roof of the one-story brick building that houses GNC from his apartment. Asked what he thought, Beck replied, scratching his head, responding, “I don’t know how they got up there.”

The unidentified owner of the GNC, who admitted that a similar break-in took place a week earlier, told worker’s of a neighboring store that they had captured six raccoons in the first incident, who all had apparently been living in the drop ceiling for weeks, before a section of that ceiling gave-way.

After the animals were removed late Friday, worker’s spent hours disinfecting and repairing the hole to the drop ceiling. The shop reopened for business on Saturday.

The owner referred calls to the GNC headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA., who had no comment on the incident.

Despite repeated attempts, including a call to the private pest control company in Yonkers– the fate of all of the raccoons remains unknown.