nucklehead Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 http://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/east-vancouver-woman-wounded-in-vicious-raccoon-attack/ar-BBEkCha?li=AAadgLE&ocid=spartandhp Quote Gina Chiarelli and her dog, an 11-year-old Maltese named Rocky, had just stepped onto the grass in the backyard of her East Vancouver home when a raccoon charged at the pair and sank its teeth into Rocky’s head. There was no provocation, Chiarelli said. The dog hadn’t gone after the raccoon. There hadn’t even been time. “We were there maybe four seconds, and all of a sudden,” Chiarelli said, “a huge raccoon, bigger than my dog, came flying out from under the deck and grabbed my dog by his head with his jaws.” The incident happened in a residential neighbourhood on East Georgia Street, between Templeton and Victoria, last Saturday. But when Chiarelli screamed for help, no one came to her rescue. The neighbours on either side of her were on vacation. For the next 15 minutes, she would battle this raccoon alone. “It was so relentless,” she said. “It was unbelievable.” The first step was separating Rocky from the raccoon. “The only thing that I was able to do is to pick up the dog by his collar, and when I picked him up into the air, the raccoon was locked onto his head. I was trying to shake him, hit him, couldn’t get him off, I even tried slamming both of them in the side of the deck, (but I) could not get the raccoon off of the dog.” Eventually, the aggressive raccoon opened his jaws, and in that moment, Chiarelli seized the opportunity to lift Rocky high above her head. But the battle was far from over. “At that point, the raccoon turned on me and started biting me severely, viciously biting me and scratching me, locking onto me on the back of my legs, and he continued to do that for about 15 minutes.” “It was like a whirling dervish just attacking me relentlessly.” Screaming in pain and terror, Chiarelli clambered to the house with the raccoon tearing at and hanging off of her legs. “I was actually carrying him while I was trying to run away,” she said. Finally, the raccoon briefly lost its grip and fell to the grass. In that moment, Chiarelli scrambled onto the deck, then through the kitchen door, which she had thankfully left open. Rocky in one hand, she slammed the door with the other, ending the ordeal. Once she got inside, Chiarelli called 911 immediately, just as neighbours from the street behind her house, having heard her screams, knocked at the front door. By then her deck looked like a crime scene. “There was blood all across the deck and all over the house,” she said. “My pants were just soaked in blood, big huge holes in them.” Rocky was injured as well, but not as severely as his owner. Chiarelli needed 10 stitches in three different areas, including a deep puncture wound on the inside of her thigh. She also received a tetanus shot. Chiarelli called the incident was “traumatizing” and “shocking.” “I seriously thought that animal was going to kill me,” she said. “I really, really thought that he was going to kill me.” Vancouver animal control searched the area for the raccoon but never found it, said Chiarelli. They also searched under the deck for a nest of babies, but found none. Pest control, meanwhile, warned Chiarelli to secure her deck, which they have already begun to do with wood and heavy-duty wire. Had she been a child, Chiarelli believes she’d be dead now, which is why she decided to come forward with her story. This isn’t the first time someone in the area has encountered a particularly brazen raccoon. Chiarelli said last week a neighbour chased a raccoon from her kitchen after discovering the animal eating her cat’s food. “We have had raccoons for years in this area. We’re just concerned about awareness for people. There’s lots of children in the area and we feel really concerned about, even if the animal control is saying that it’s unusual, it really only has to happen one time.” “That’s my bigger reason for wanting to share the incident. Not so much just about me but just to be educated about potential scenarios, so that you can be a little more careful.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6of1_halfdozenofother Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 If I were her, I'd also look into checking out the possibility that the raccoon may have been rabid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Weasel Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Damn, that's brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancaster Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 So... she was yelling and screaming for help for 15 minutes and nobody came? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucklehead Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 2 minutes ago, 6of1_halfdozenofother said: If I were her, I'd also look into checking out the possibility that the raccoon may have been rabid. she got a shot for that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nucklehead Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 The bigger issue is: IT'S STILL OUT THERE!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6of1_halfdozenofother Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 1 minute ago, nucklehead said: she got a shot for that According to the article, she got one for tetanus, but no mention of rabies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HerrDrFunk Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 1 minute ago, nucklehead said: she got a shot for that A tetanus shot is not a rabies shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fateless Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tre Mac Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 My idiot neighbour was feeding raccoons now they climb up her deck and can reach mine(my deck is a good 8' from the ground). The coons are pretty relentless here in White Rock with all the developing going on in the area, I don't know if they're mating or ripping each other to shreds but the noise is very unsettling. They either need to relocate them or cull them because it's getting out of hand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-AJ- Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 I'd categorize myself as an animal guy, but I would not hesitate to try to kill a racoon if it attacked me or my pets like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svengali Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 "For the next 15 minutes, she would battle this raccoon alone" "like a whirling dervish" "blood all over the house" "I tell ya he was ten stories high if he was a foot!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 49 minutes ago, nucklehead said: she got a shot for that Nope, she got a tetnus shot, which will prevent lockjaw. Rabies is a different shot altogether, they used to give you that shot through your stomach- very painful shot but definitely worth it as it could save your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silky mitts Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Good thing a raccoon won't try to run up on my cane corsos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurn Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Many years ago in Squamish I was driving a volkswagon rabbit over the bridge just south of town, before Valleycliffe, and hit a raccoon at 50 mph. I got out of the car and found the raccoon with his fur split over his head to the point you could see his skull. The raccoon is twitching and bleeding everywhere, I didn't have a knife or an axe to put him down with so I threw him in the water hoping it would drown quickly. 2 hours later I'm driving the other way and I see this same raccoon, walking across the bridge. It looks at my car and I swear it recognized me, frickin thing was extremely pissed, I did not get out of the car. tldr- racoons are extremely tough and dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Zepp Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 1 hour ago, nucklehead said: The bigger issue is: IT'S STILL OUT THERE!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kragar Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 7 minutes ago, gurn said: Many years ago in Squamish I was driving a volkswagon rabbit over the bridge just south of town, before Valleycliffe, and hit a raccoon at 50 mph. I got out of the car and found the raccoon with his fur split over his head to the point you could see his skull. The raccoon is twitching and bleeding everywhere, I didn't have a knife or an axe to put him down with so I threw him in the water hoping it would drown quickly. 2 hours later I'm driving the other way and I see this same raccoon, walking across the bridge. It looks at my car and I swear it recognized me, frickin thing was extremely pissed, I did not get out of the car. tldr- racoons are extremely tough and dangerous. Good thing you were careful, they'll eat rabbits if they can catch 'em Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nucker 67 Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 We also get raccoons frequently in our backyard, I never let my dog out back by himself (especially during night). When I'm out back with him, I keep a broom stick (without the broom part) close by, just in case. The raccoons are bigger than him, and they tend to travel in groups (mother and kids, etc). I don't trust them at all, and damn they can be brave! They also took up residence before in our roof. That was bad, but we got them out. I've heard the screeches at night, like something being killed. Very unsettling. But we also have rats in our neighborhood, and I guess they eat those, so they do serve a purpose. I hate rats more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Kneel Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Huge thing must have a huge appetite. It'll turn up somewhere I'm sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHitman Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Raccoons look cool, but the amount of them that just hang around SFU are frightening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.