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Oklahoma City gets more and more like Pawnee, Indiana every day…

raccoons in the capitol

Pawnee, Indiana, is everyone's favorite fictional city full of a small group of dedicated individuals who live to make the city a better place, as well as massive swarms of jerks who are fundamentally incapable of voting in their own self-interest.

Sound like any place you know?

The fictional Pawnee, Indiana, is not only the setting of Parks and Recreation, but I'd like to argue that it serves as the template that the City of Oklahoma City has been trying to follow. I couldn't tell you who in the city government was Leslie Knope, but there are probably like 87 Ron Swansons, just with the way our political demographics work out. And just like Pawnee, we have a raccoon problem.

According to KFOR.com:

OKLAHOMA CITY-- Two masked intruders were caught on security cameras creeping into the state Capitol overnight.

The trespassing raccoons checked themselves out in a senate hall mirror, before raiding cabinets for snacks in Senator Patrick Anderson's office.

"The cabinet door was left open, and everything was kind of strewn about," said Kathie Darr, Executive Assistant in Anderson's office. "All of my things were outside the cabinet on the floor."

The spree would be short lived though, they were nabbed in a bathroom hours later.

The pair of bandits were issued a verbal warning, and handed over to OKC Animal Welfare.

"We received a call last night," explained Lyne Huffman, fieldsupervisor with Animal Welfare. "Brought them back here, so they could be kept in our wildlife room."

Now the raccoons' thieving days are behind them. The pair were whisked away to the Wildcare Foundation on Thursday, to be treated then released.

Yep. That's right. We officially have the same problem that was a series-long gag on Parks and Recreation. Naturally, this makes me wonder what other Parks and Rec-style things may happen in our fair city. Now you can fully expect for a mini horse to become a local hero, "treat yo self" day will be a statewide holiday, and Paul Rudd will try and fail to become a city councilman.

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