Good information and unhealthy information for residents of Spokane, Washington: While there have been no studies of “angry raccoons” threatening the general public, the town does, nevertheless, appear to have a prankster on its fingers.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, drivers on Northwest Boulevard in Spokane have been greeted with a most uncommon message on a building signal.
Instead of a typical “Road Work Ahead” or “Slow” message, the signal learn “Angry Raccoons Ahead.”
The signal bore the message in the course of the early morning commute, mentioned The Spokesman Review, a newspaper based mostly in Spokane.
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Mike Biggs, proprietor of Spokane Traffic Control, Inc., the corporate that offered the signal, advised Fox News Digital in a cellphone interview that the signal had been hacked.
The wrongdoer, he mentioned, has not been recognized.
A site visitors management sign up Spokane, Washington, briefly learn “Angry Raccoons Ahead” on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024. The signal was a prank — no indignant raccoons have been really reported. (Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review)
“I’ve gotten quite a few laughs,” Beggs advised Fox News Digital.
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Wednesday was the primary time one in every of his indicators had been hacked to show a distinct message than the one supposed — and he’s apprehensive the wrongdoer could strike once more.
“You just never know,” he mentioned.
Beggs was uncertain how precisely the signal was hacked, or what it was initially imagined to learn.
Reports of “angry raccoons” in Spokane, Washington, turned out to be a false alarm. (iStock)
He advised Fox News Digital that the indicators have “three or four compartments” that might be opened with a little bit of finesse.
“So if you’re in this field at all, or have been around them at all, almost anybody,” he mentioned, may change the message on the signal.
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Beggs joked that the vandal “sure picked the right phrase” to make use of on the signal, because the story has taken off far past Spokane.
“They could have been a lot more brutal,” he mentioned — noting that there have been “horror stories” of indicators somewhere else being hacked to show messages which can be inappropriate.
Raccoons are generally discovered all through a lot of the United States, together with Washington. (Picture alliance through Getty Images)
“It could have been worse,” he mentioned.
Raccoons, mentioned the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s web site, “are a common sight in much of Washington, often drawn to urban areas by food supplied by humans.”
As for “angry” raccoons?
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“As long as raccoons are kept out of human homes, not cornered and not treated as pets, they are not dangerous,” mentioned the identical web site.
Raccoons can carry rabies, nevertheless, in different components of the nation, the positioning famous — and there are particular and vital indicators to concentrate to indicating that an animal might be ailing.
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https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/sign-washington-hacked-display-warning-angry-raccoons
