An outdoor video camera captured the scary moment when a raccoon attacked a young Connecticut girl last week — after which the girl’s mother turned into “momma bear” just in a nick of time and saved the day.
What are the details?
The raccoon latched itself onto the girl’s leg at 7:45 a.m. Friday just outside the front door of her family’s home in Ashford, WTIC-TV reported.
Naturally, the girl began screaming and tried in vain to kick the animal off her leg.
Within seconds, the girl’s mother ran outside and grabbed the raccoon by the neck, the station said.
“Go inside! Go inside!” the mom yelled to her child as she held her daughter off the ground with her left arm against her left leg while holding the raccoon at bay with her right hand.
Soon the girl got inside the house, and the mom — on her second try — managed to toss the now-squealing raccoon into the front yard, after which it scampered away.
Raccoon attacks girl in Connecticut, mom flings it away | Caught on camerayoutu.be
The station said the mother posted a video of the ordeal to Facebook later that morning, noting her girl wanted to “show everyone what the raccoon did,” WTIC said.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of this brave girl!” the mother said of her daughter, the station added.
An update to the Facebook post indicated the mom and daughter both got rabies shots following the raccoon’s “unprovoked” attack, WTIC reported.
‘Very heroic’
“The mother behaved in a way that was very heroic,” Geoff Krukar, a wildlife biologist for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told the station. “I think she did everything correctly by avoiding getting bit and warning the neighbor to stay back and getting the child to safety.”
Krukar added to WTIC that the raccoon appeared to be sick.
He also told the station that if folks see the nocturnal animal during the day, that doesn’t necessarily mean it has rabies — instead it’s the animal’s behavior that matters.
“If they see a raccoon that is acting abnormally, that could be frothing at the mouth, pursuing them, getting in close proximity, they should definitely report that to the authorities,” Krukar recommended to WTIC.
Ashford Animal Control added to the station that the raccoon in question hadn’t been captured.