Did that damn thing take off her arm?
Posted on 06/15/2017 2:05:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Maine woman remembered thinking about how beautiful the day was as she jogged through the woods, never imagining she would have to fend off a rabid raccoon with her bare hands, according to the Bangor Daily News.
Rachel Borch was running recently along a familiar trail near her home in Hope, a small town south of Bangor, when she saw the animal in the middle of the path, baring its teeth, she told the paper Wednesday.
When the raccoon ran straight for her, Borch said she knew it was rabid. With overgrown bushes on either side of the trail, there was no way to get around it.
“Imagine the Tasmanian devil, it was terrifying,” she told the Bangor Daily News. “I knew it was going to bite me.”
Borch remembered thinking that if she could hold it down on the ground she might have the best chance of defending herself, but as soon as she grabbed it, the raccoon bit down on her thumb.
Crying and screaming as the rabies-infected creature continued to kick and scratch, the 21-year-old saw a puddle on the trail and managed to drag the raccoon to it.
“With my thumb in its mouth, I just pushed its head down into the muck,” Borch said. She held the animal’s head under the water until its movements finally slowed. Then she ran – shoeless and in hysterics – nearly a mile to her house.
Her father collected the animal’s body in an old dog food bag and her mother immediately took Borch to a nearby hospital for an evaluation and a series of shots. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that the raccoon’s blood tested positive for rabies, according to WGME.
“She was phenomenal,” Hope Animal Control Officer Heidi Blood told the station. “I don’t know if I would’ve been able to keep my composure and handle the situation the way she did.”
Borch, who is a vegetarian, told the paper that, even though she killed the animal in self defense, she won’t be able to see raccoons as just cute forest creatures anymore.
According to the CDC, the state has tallied 21 cases of rabies this year – 14 raccoons (including the one that attacked Borch), three red foxes and four skunks.
Wow...just wow. Do not know if I could have done that...yet my pistol would have stopped it.
I live way out in the country in rural TN and had one chase me while I was riding my bike once. Good for me I wasn’t trying to climb one of these hills at the time or it might have caught me.
Wow! They are tough little buggers.
Pistol sounds better to me. How do you jog with a pistol? Freaking thing could go off while you’re jogging.
Wouldn’t take much. One breath underwater and biting won’t help.
They’re nocturnal. Seeing one roaming around in broad daylight is generally a dead-giveaway that its rabid.
“...Freaking thing could go off while you’re jogging.”
???
Shows you how much I know about guns. I suppose there’d be a way to strap it securely to your body so it doesn’t flap around or bog you down while your jogging
Her friends call her Lefty.
One of these is small enough to hang on a string around your neck. They only have 2 shots and very little range but they would kill a raccoon or a large dog
https://bondarms.com/bond-arms-handguns/snake-slayer/
OK.
I would not enjoy a pistol ‘knockin’’ at my side while running. It would have to be ‘strapped down.’
That being said, pistols have safety’s that prevent them from firing without the SAFETY being turned off.
BTW, just purchased 300 rounds today. Not one of them will be fired while jogging unless...
Cue “American Woman” by the Guess Who.
That should be her theme song if she goes on any talk shows.
...you met up with a crazed raccoon, a crazed Bernie supporter, or a crazed Leftist maniac. Come to think of it, the crazed raccoon was probably a Bernie supporter.
Hmmm - maybe I need to learn how to shoot a gun...
Killing with your bare hands...that’s some next level stuff. I’m gonna guess that girl comes out a little salty.
“They’re nocturnal. Seeing one roaming around in broad daylight is generally a dead-giveaway that its rabid.”
I’ve seen lots of raccoons out during the day ... peacefully minding their own business.
LOL! Good luck hitting a running target with that!
In a residential neighborhood in the middle of summer in the middle of the day I saw a skinny raccoon walking around in a wonky kind of way. I called animal control and reported it to a lazy sounding employee. She did not seem very concerned but said she would report it.
The raccoon was walking towards an apartment complex where I knew that children played outside. So I followed the raccoon in the hopes that someone from animal control would show up. The raccoon did not take kindly to me tailing it and turned the tables and started following me. It creeped me out. I left the vicinity and never saw animal control.
I was Uber driving a couple of nights ago and went to the Disneyland Hotel. There was a raccoon hanging around the entrance. Apparently he hangs around there and has done so for a couple of years. People (tourists) feed him.
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