Raccoon Attack
In Braintree
By Sandy Vondrasek

"He was big and he was vicious and I could not seem to get rid of him."

That is how Edie Young of Braintree summarized an attack by a rabid raccoon, Monday morning, outside her Mobile Acres home.

Young, who was bitten multiple times by the animal, spoke to The Herald Monday afternoon, a few hours after her traumatic encounter with the 35-to-45-pound raccoon.

The raccoon was found, killed, and tested, and Young was advised Monday evening that it had indeed been rabid. However, Young did not wait for those results. Immediately following the attack, she went to Gifford Medical Center to get started on a series of rabies shots.

Young said she went outside Monday morning at around 10 a.m., to clean up the mess on the back deck that she and her husband had discovered earlier that morning.

Whatever it was, "It got our rugs," she said.

After cleaning up the deck, Young noted some empty cans, which had been in bags awaiting a trip to the redemption center, scattered around the carport.

As she picked up the cans, Young said, she heard a funny hissing sound, and looked up to see a raccoon rushing at her from the back of the carport.

The raccoon rushed up to Young, and bit her leg.

"I fought with him quite a few minutes," she said. "I thought if I could get my hands around his neck I could throw him, and I did get my hands around his neck, but he was so big I had to let go.

"I never dreamed a raccoon could be so vicious," she said.

Both her hands and legs were bitten, with the puncture wound to her legs the worst.

Young said she had more than a dozen shots Monday—a tetanus shot, an antibiotic, and multiple rabies shots around the leg wounds.

"I go back for more on the 7^th, the 14^th and the 28^th," she said.

The Braintree raccoon was the 160^th rabid animal confirmed in Vermont, and the ninth thus far this year in Orange County. Windsor County has had only one case.

Rabies has been especially rampant in Vermont’s northern counties this year, with Franklin County accounting for probably half of the cases. In fact, in just two days, May 23 and 24, the county had 12 confirmed rabies cases.

Dr. Johnson’s Tips

Vermont’s public health veterinarian, Dr. Bob Johnson, offered some information and safety tips in the wake of Monday’s attack in Braintree:

Rabies is a fatal viral disease found mainly in wildlife that can also infect domestic animals and humans. Hundreds of cases of animal rabies have been reported throughout Vermont since 1992 and the outbreak will continue to be a problem for many years.

Rabies is mainly transmitted by a bite. Rare non-bite exposures can occur if wet infectious saliva or nervous tissue contacts a fresh open wound or the eyes, nose or mouth.

Avoid wildlife, vaccinate domestic pets and livestock (check with your veterinarian every year) and know who in your community (town health officer or other local official or neighbor) will help you with an animal problem.

If you think you have found orphaned wildlife, don’t touch them. Game wardens can be reached by calling the state police.

If you are bitten by an animal, wash the wound immediately and call your doctor.

A booster should be considered for a currently vaccinated domestic pet with wounds of unknown origin, whereas an unvaccinated domestic pet should be immediately vaccinated and kept under the owner’s control and observation for six months.

The Vermont Department of Health (VDH) is responsible for the prevention of rabies in humans and for the management of animals that may have exposed humans. The VDH assesses human and animal rabies exposure, coordinates rabies specimen testing and provides vaccination guidelines.

For more information, contact Dr. Johnson, at 1-800-640-4374, or rhj6@cornell.edu.

The VT Rabies Hotline/USDA, Wildlife Services, 1-800-4-RABIES, 802-223-8690, offers excellent rabies and wildlife information by wildlife biologists.