Three raccoons that made their way into a building on campus have become the butt of several jokes for students at Simon Fraser University.
The raccoons were caught on camera balancing on the top of a row of garbage and recycling bins inside a building on the school's Burnaby campus.
The video was posted by Charmyn Chan on Snapchat, then made its way to an SFU Facebook page where it has been viewed nearly 40,000 times. Several students commented that they'd also seen the masked bandits indoors.
SFU communications director Kurt Heinrich said the critters appear to have been rooting through the trash in the school's Maggie Benson Centre.
Heinrich said the school had seen the video and looked into it, but "it appears that the raccoons did leave the building shortly after they finished with the trash."
For the most part, the furry fugitives had a positive reception online, with several Facebook users calling them cute. Others wondered whether there was a risk of rabies, a disease particularly common in raccoons, bats, foxes and skunks.
Although some seemed worried, most found the situation amusing.
"At least they're recycling," wrote Dave Coles.
"They let anyone into SFU nowadays," Paul Sandhu joked.
Another, Tony Ngo, joked that their decision to root through the garbage for food was "what I imagine most students do."
Facebook user Talia Neil wrote "Mom look! My university comes with so many unexpected… perks?"
The university said seeing animals indoors is unusual, but occasionally wildlife can be seen on campus.
"From time to time, community members will spot deer, raccoons and on rare occasions, even coyotes and bears – though these animals usually keep away from the campus buildings," Heinrich said.
Earlier this year, a black bear was spotted on campus near the university's sign at the edge of campus. A photo of the bruin was posted on social media in June.
