Posted on 09/14/2009 4:36:19 PM PDT by JoeProBono
A Ballard couple are in shock after they were attacked by a raccoon in their own backyard. Now, they're both undergoing painful rabies treatments as a precaution.
Mark Silverstein says he still vividly remembers the sounds of his wife's screams and his dog's agonized yelps on the night of the attack.
"I heard her screaming and the dog screaming. It was like blood-curdling, terror, like you've never heard before," he says.
The bizarre episode began with a normal backyard potty break for their little dog, Bee. With no warning, a furry bandit went on a rampage, biting and clawing the dog.
"This raccoon was completely unprovoked," says Joanna Silverstein. "It came over the fence and went for her. I don't know why."
Joanna, who had a baby just two weeks ago, suddenly found herself in the darkness - wrestling with the wild animal to save her terrier.
"I got him by the back of the neck," she says. "I pulled him off the dog and tried to get the front of his neck to strangle him."
"You don't even think about it," she says. "You do what you have to do to save your dog."
Her husband, Mark, fought off the raccoon by throwing a big flashlight at it.
"I hit it, and hit it as hard as I could," he says.
Finally the vicious raccoon ran under the deck and then disappeared.
Now Bee has bite marks to her snout, and Joanna has an open wound on her calf.
"I didn't realize I had been bitten until I actually saw it. But you clearly see teeth," she says.
Mark's right arm was clawed or bitten - he's not sure which.
"I don't know if it bit here. These look like puncture wounds. But it was the front claws or the back claws - that's where I reached in and tried to pull that thing off."
They're now both undergoing a series of painful rabies vaccinations - with 10 to 20 shots every session.
"It was excruciatingly painful," says Mark.
There's a concern this raccoon had become so aggressive because a few homeowners around here have been feeding it.
In fact, a flier went up soon after the initial attack imploring homeowners not to feed the raccoon.
And with the vicious animal still on the loose, the Silverstein's remain skittish.
"We're scared to let the dog out," says Joanna. "There's no way I'm taking the baby out after dark. It's like our own backyard is off limits to us after sunset."
The Silversteins say they plan on having traps set in the next few days to catch the raccoon and others, which could live in a big tree in their backyard.
Actually, it’s only 5 shots now, not 10, and they’re not all that painful.
I just had them last month.
Time to buy some rat shot and a .22 pistol.
It was actually a feral kitten that got me...
I hate cats.
They can be mean little bastards.
That’s what I thought. I was reading a story about a bat bite and they were saying that the treatment was not painful like it used to be. I thought it had to do with shots in the abdomen, now there’s less and in a different location.
First two in the butt, and a large ammount of immunoglobulin(or sommat) at the site of the bite, then five shots in the arm every 7 or ten days. Not bad at all.
Carefull!!
Lotta rabid coons out there these days!!
Hire an animal trapper. they place the trap, catch the critter, you call them and they come haul it away. They do not kill the critters...they just relocate them away from your yard.
Ever heard one “bark?” Sounds like a bark and... NASTY hissing as well.
Both of my kids have had rabies shots. THey aren’t painful. You get one or two the first time and then go back for one shot each time for a couple of weeks. Maybe 5 or 6 shots total.
In my case, they relocate them to public land many miles away where the surrounding land owners then have to deal with them.
According to a gal I used to work with who lived out in the country and not far from such public land, her husband shot 20 coon in the space of a week from his back deck that were hanging around a dumping area he had at the back of their property. S. E. Michigan......
I found out about this tidbit of info from a guy I met at the corp. office who traps coons, kills them then takes them on Sundays to a furrier who sets up shop at the far corner of Great Lakes Crossing. He prefers the carcasses to be frozen then he will assess a value to the fur and pay you for it.
As for the guy who traps them, he sets his traps in the public land near my friend's house where the all the coons are released........At a minimum of $25 per carcass, thats not a bad part time income........
some people don’t realize that just because something is cute, doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous.. or extremely tasty....mmmmmm fried raccoon and gravy.
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