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Raccoon Sightings Freak Out Crown Heights — Just 'Follow the Screams'

By Rachel Holliday Smith | October 17, 2016 2:29pm | Updated on October 17, 2016 2:47pm

Ah, autumn. The changing leaves, the crisp air — and the army of trash bandits that are apparently taking over the neighborhood.

Sightings of raccoons in Crown Heights are up this month, according to freaked out locals on Twitter.

Yes, masked garbage pilferers have been spotted in the area at least four times in the past couple of weeks, on fire escapes, on a sidewalk and strolling down Franklin Avenue (on the hunt for some artisanal hot dogs, perhaps?)

READ MORE: Raccoons Terrorize Harlem Block, Breaking Into Homes and Even Eating Pets

The past weekend, one tipster told DNAinfo New York to “follow the screams” in the wake of a raccoon spotted on the avenue “headed up Lincoln.”

Two days before, local blogger Ayanna Prescod had a mini-meltdown when a raccoon plopped down on her fire escape in the middle of the day:

And three days before that sighting, Twitter user Alli Lesovoy said she saw not one but five raccoons (a family!) walking down the street in the neighborhood:

A raccoon family has also been spotted in Crown Heights near Franklin Avenue and Park Place by Twitter user @auntfloetry, who said the crew has shown up on her fire escape multiple times since the summer, usually around 4 a.m.:

We cannot confirm nor deny it was the same raccoon family seen rooting around on a Brooklyn roof in this video posted last week. But, either way, please watch these tiny furry dumpster robbers do their thing because despite what the vicious anti-raccoon lobby has to say, we think they’re pretty cute: