Raccoons walk through a high school in Texas

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A school in Austin, Texas is dealing with some unwanted visitors who just don’t want to leave.

“This isn’t the first time Noah and I have covered raccoons at school,” said Morgan Eye, a journalism student at McCallum High School.

Noah Braun, who recently wrote one Article about the raccoons said he found past articles showing similar incidents.

“There are articles from the ’90s, from the early 2000s — and even from the 2010s — that talk about it,” Braun said.

While there have been problems with raccoons in the past, the number of incidents has increased recently, according to journalism students at the school.

“Six catches and releases in three days is the most we’ve seen at school,” Eye said.

Braun says he heard a commotion outside his classroom this week and as he walked out there was a raccoon.

“There was a raccoon that was sort of pushed against that door by the officer, and eventually he was able to get him out of the building,” Braun said.

Max Davis, a student at the school, said there are a number of videos and pictures of the raccoons being shared around the school.

“There was a raccoon running out of a bathroom and when he saw people, he ran the other way,” Davis said.

Braun said they even found a dead raccoon in the walls recently.

“It was rotten,” Braun said. “His corpse decomposed and spread its smell everywhere”

KXAN has reached out to Austin ISD who tells us they are addressing the issues.

“We understand that having raccoons on school property can be a concern for parents and we take this matter seriously. I want to assure you that we are taking steps to address the issue in a humane and effective manner. We have contacted our pest control department, a professional wildlife removal specialist, and they have already started preventing them from entering the building with exclusionary measures and setting up humane traps for anyone else that we may not be aware of . The team will safely remove the raccoons from school premises and continue to monitor the situation to ensure the issue is fully resolved.”

– Statement by Austin ISD

Some students tell KXAN that seeing the raccoons running around can be fun, but it’s also worrying.

Eye says a raccoon fell through the ceiling and landed next to a student in class.

“It was scared, it was running around and everything,” Eye said. “What if it bit her? What if it had rabies?”

KXAN reported on a raccoon found at school last year.

McCallum High School was a school listed for upgrades due to a Bond 2022 that passed. In the past, the district said the upgrades would help fix problems in the older school.