It’s a classic trope of Hollywood movies that when parents go on vacation, their kids will throw a house-wrecking rager of a party.
But for one White Rock man last week, it was a fuzzier and less welcome group of bandits trashing the place.
Ken Rechik was on vacation in Costa Rica on Friday when he got a call from a neighbour who suspected his home had been broken into.
The neighbor used a spare key to investigate, and discovered that the home had, in fact, been ransacked by a gaze of raccoons.
Rechik cut his vacation short, and arrived home Sunday to find about $4,000 worth of damage.
WATCH: Uncertain future for trio of baby raccoons nursed back to health
“It’s like they had a party. My swinging chair, they broke my swinging chair,” he said.
Video provided by Elena Cyr of Surrey House Cleaning, who Rechik contracted to clean up the mess, details the trail of destruction.
It appears the critters broke through the ceiling of Rechik’s garage, before climbing through a connecting window into the house proper.
Along the way they chewed through speakers, broke glassware, destroyed plants, sullied carpets and left incriminating paw prints everywhere they went.
Eventually the crafty raccoons appear to have opened a locked second-storey window from the inside and fled the scene.
“The ironic thing, my pantry, which is not that hard to open, they didn’t touch. The weren’t hungry,” said Rechik.
Rechik said he’s spoken to police and bylaw officers, only to be told there’s nothing they can do.
He’s also out of luck on his insurance.
WATCH: A daredevil raccoon captures the world’s attention
The frustrated homeowner says he plans to further fortify his home with wire mesh, but worries the bandits will be back.