Raccoon Attack !!!!

[Cragar]

I am very sorry for this woman , she got hurt quite bad.

Wildlife is just that , Wild. Be careful.



Woman recovers from raccoon attack

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LAKELAND FL - An elderly Polk County woman who was attacked by a family of raccoons over the weekend is having a hard time recovering.

The attack happened on Waterford Drive in south Lakeland on Saturday.

When 74-year-old Gretch Whitted tried to shoo away a mother raccoon and her babies from outside her home, they began biting her.

Her family says the bites were pretty deep.

"She may need some skin grafting," said her daughter, Lisa Bilik, who just arrived from Virginia.
"They have the wounds wrapped pretty tightly right now. Below her knee are the worst wounds,"
Bilik said.

Late Saturday afternoon, Whitted tried to shoo a mother raccoon and her four babies away from her front door. Florida Fish and Wildlife officals say the momma raccoon's maternal instincts kicked in and she began biting Whitted -- then the babies joined in.

Whitted fell, and the mauling got worse.

She is hospitalized at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, and is undergoing a series of rabies shots as a precaution. Experts don't think the raccoons are rabid, but won't know until they are tested.

Polk Animal Control officers set 16 traps around the neighborhood, and are checking them hourly.

Neighbors are nervous, and say they will be uneasy until the critters are caught.

"I think we need to get rid of them," Ryan Lopez told FOX 13, "I am about ready to bring out a shotgun myself."

 

[passline]

That really sucks! Those bites are nasty. I hope she is OK now.
One bright note though, it is Florida ..... so "fire away" until you rid the area of those masked varments!

 

[HTN]

Hey... this is only 30 minutes from where I live. If it's not raccoons, it's gators attacking.

 

[davidf]

I've heard for years raccoons can be very agrressive.

 

[gdae]

They can be extremely aggressive, according to this article. They can also be extremely brazen about coming around people.
My mom used to keep a bunch of cats (until the coyotes ate them. Different story) and I would go out and look at them eating. Lined up, it would be cat, cat, coon, cat, coon, coon, cat….
You could shoo them away, but they’d just go 15 feet away and peek around the corner of the house. If you stood still, they’d come back up and eat right there in front of you, in broad daylight. I’ve had to step over them to get out of the house.
The coons come around there less, now that the food is gone.