Alert “06880” reader Emily Lerman Taylor had a recent traumatic encounter with a strange-acting animal.
She says she’s not alone. She described her experience, and sent videos. WARNING: The videos are graphic. “Turn the sound off if you are near children,” she says.
Emily writes:
On the afternoon of August 3, I was in my front yard with my 1-year-old daughter and our 2-year-old labradoodle, when a raccoon hobbled out of the woods and, completely unprovoked, attacked my dog Riggins.
I screamed in sheer terror. When I did, the raccoon ran toward me and my baby.
Thanks to a helpful and caring neighbor, I escaped with my baby and trapped the raccoon in my garage.
I called Westport Animal Control and got an answering machine, twice.
Frantic, I called the police, explaining the situation. They dispatched Animal Control directly, letting them know I already had the raccoon trapped in my garage, and that my dog was injured.
They came, killed the raccoon, and sent it off for testing. It tested positive for rabies.
My baby and I were not harmed (physically). My dog got a nasty bite. He received medical care and seems to be healing well so far.
Because we always keep up to date on vaccinations, he is extremely unlikely to become infected. The rabies vaccine is incredibly effective. Vaccinate your pets!
(If anyone wonders why it’s important to keep your pet’s vaccinations up to date — besides “it’s the law” and “it protects the whole community” — the answer is that without a vaccination, our dog would have been euthanized).
Because many of my family members were exposed to the raccoon saliva on the dog’s fur following the incident, we are now all undergoing rabies vaccine treatment ourselves. This involves multiple shots on 4 separate days, over the course of 2 weeks.
We can only receive our shots at the emergency room, and cannot schedule them ahead of time, so we’ve spent many hours at the hospital this week.
Between that and the fevers/vomiting my children have experienced as side effects, it has been an inconvenience to say the least. But it is one that, given the circumstances, is undoubtedly worth it.
Rabid raccoon (though not the one that attacked Emily’s dog.
As for our dog, the state required he be put in a 45-day “confinement,” in the very unlikely chance he becomes rabid in the coming weeks.
We found a facility that can care for him and is trained in rabies confinement procedure, but we are devastated that he must recover from his injuries without the love and comfort of the only family he’s ever known.
Additionally stressful is the financial burden that comes with surgically treating and then boarding a dog for 45 days. But again, as far as we are concerned, it is undoubtedly worth it.
Riggins, on the mend.
This incident has been horrible for our family all around, but we are acutely aware that it could have been infinitely worse.
A rabid animal is terrifying and deadly, and my mind continues to flash to images of what could have happened had that raccoon gotten to my baby.
As the days go by, I continue to hear from people who have called in numerous reports of suspicious animals with little to no response from authoritie s— and the more stories I hear, the angrier and more frustrated I become.
In all likelihood, this raccoon had been reported on before. But until it attacked my dog and came for me and my child, and until I went to the trouble of trapping it in a confined space myself, no relevant local government agency did a thing.
I’m hoping now they will act on all calls, not just the ones involving violence and harm. Being solely reactive is only acceptable when there is no opportunity to be proactive. That’s not the case here.
Opportunities to be proactive have been abundant. The people of our community have been doing their part to protect themselves and each other. Local government agencies need to do theirs. I’m hoping these videos, and this story, can play a role in making that happen.
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