Good news and bad news for residents of Spokane, Washington: There are no reports of “angry raccoons” threatening the public, but it appears the city has a prankster.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, motorists on Northwest Boulevard in Spokane were greeted with a very unusual message on a construction sign.
Instead of the typical “Roadworks ahead” or “Slow down” messages, the signs read “Angry raccoons ahead.”
According to the Spokane-based newspaper The Spokesman-Review, the message was written on the sign during the early morning commute.
Mike Biggs, owner of Spokane Traffic Control, which provided the sign, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview that the sign was hacked.
The culprit has not been identified, he said.
“It made me laugh quite a bit,” Beggs told FOX News Digital.
Wednesday was the first time one of his signs was hacked and displayed a different message than intended. And he is worried that the culprit will attack again.
“You never know,” he said.
Beggs didn’t know how exactly the sign had been hacked or what it was supposed to read.
He told Fox News Digital that the sign has “three or four compartments” that can be opened with a little effort.
“So just about anyone, if you’re involved in this field at all or if you’ve been around them, can change the message on a billboard,” he said.
Because the story extends far beyond Spokane, Beggs joked that the vandal “certainly chose the right phrase” to use on the sign.
“They could have been more brutal,” he said, noting there are “horror stories” of billboards in other locations being hacked and displaying inappropriate messages.
“It could have been much worse,” he said.
According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website, raccoons are “a common sight across much of Washington, and are often drawn to urban areas by food provided by humans.”
What about an “angry” raccoon?
“Raccoons are not dangerous unless kept away from human homes, cornered, and treated as pets,” the same website says.
While raccoons can carry rabies, the site noted that in other parts of the country, there are certain important signs to look out for that indicate an animal may be sick.
