For the second time in as many weeks a pair of bandits has broken into the GNC store in Norwood. Police and onlookers were stunned to learn the intruders were of the 4-legged kind.

And the pesky, masked-covered raccoons, commonly spotted in more suburban settings, have already made themselves at home just one block north of the vitamin shop, becoming unruly neighbors.

Police were called to the vitamin supplement shop at 3453 Jerome Ave. at 9 a.m. on Sept. 29, for an “animal incident,” involving the raccoons. A dispatcher quickly reported it had “one in custody,” shortly after the furry fiends slipped into the store from a gaping hole in the drop-ceiling. Eventually, cops apprehended the raccoons, carting them off.

“The same thing happened last week and we caught two of them,” an unidentified store employee said.  This begged the question: how did they get onto the roof of a one-story commercial building in the first place?

Tracking the family of raccoons isn’t a problem. After all, just one block north of Jerome Avenue, residents have grown accustomed to the raccoons, especially during nighttime feedings when a woman routinely leaves canned food for stray cats and raccoons. The latter’s considered a no-no for the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which tracks the raccoon population.

“And the cats eat with them too,” Jelissa Lugo, a resident said. “They’re friends.”

If food’s unavailable, raccoons can be spotted rummaging through garbage, scavenging for food.

“They’re always hungry,” Luz Bermudez, Jelissa’s mother said, fearing one of the critters would lunge at her grandson should it want to feed on flesh. “What am I gonna do? Carry a gun and shoot them?”

That’s not a bad idea for Harold Richardson, owner of Tequilaz restaurant on Jerome Avenue. To ward them off the property, his operations manager Carmen Bermudez (no relation to Luz Bermudez) sprays ammonia about the perimeter of the place. The two have noticed the critters crawling upwards to a tree, with limbs that extend to the roof of a three-story brick home adjacent to Luz’s apartment. Luz suspects the raccoons live inside the home after burrowing their way into via the chimney. Spots of feces are also a sign the raccoons live at the home.

“If they receive mail, it’s there,” Luz said.

For now, with no reports of rabid raccoons, residents are stuck with the furry creatures. The DEC only steps in should the raccoons prove rabid indeed.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.