Doctor's main concern was rabies as the raccoon was out during the day and very aggressive, both signs of the viral disease
ASHFORD, Conn. -- A 5-year-old girl was attacked by an aggressive raccoon while waiting for the school bus outside her home in Ashford, Connecticut, on December 2.
Logan MacNamara's home surveillance camera captured the scary moment her daughter, Rylee, was bitten. She told Storyful her daughter stepped outside to wait for the bus and the raccoon was sitting on the porch.
The video shows the raccoon quickly latch onto Rylee's leg, who then screams and attempts to shake the animal off. MacNamara rushes to help her daughter, grabbing onto the animal by the scruff of its neck. She's able to remove it, and at one point can be seen holding both the raccoon and her daughter. Once her daughter is inside she throws the animal into her yard where it can be seen waddling away.
"I heard her screaming and ran to see what was going on. I thought maybe she slammed her hand in the door, I was not expecting to see a raccoon attacking her," MacNamara said. "If I didn't have the video I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what happened, it all happened so fast."
She told Storyful Rylee has a few puncture wounds, and said they both have scratches, but that they are doing ok. She said Rylee, who normally wears leggings, was wearing jeans, and she believes this helped prevent her from being more seriously injured.
MacNamara confirmed they did go to the hospital, and said the doctor's main concern was rabies as the raccoon was out during the day, and very aggressive, both signs of the viral disease according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Though they've not been able to find the raccoon to test it for rabies, she said they will be receiving rabies vaccines over the coming weeks.