DALLAS—Police learned something during a frenetic burglary call to an elderly couple’s home: Tasers don’t work on raccoons.

Police arrived with guns drawn after receiving a 911 call from an 85-year-old man who heard noises near his front door Tuesday night. Officers quickly determined the suspect was a raccoon.

The masked burglar apparently made its way into the house through the chimney, then went about ripping up blinds, pulling down drapes, knocking over a lamp and toppling a flowerpot. Finally, the suspect ran at Officer Daniel Ek, who used his Taser, but the raccoon ran up the chimney with the stun gun’s prongs in its back. A neighbor helped secure the front of the fireplace and the next morning, the raccoon had escaped.

“He got away clean,” homeowner Bill Hyde said.