A 4 year old Alabama girl was attacked by a rabid raccoon. We see lots of coons, possums, and beaver around the farm. Another good reason to keep a firearm handy out working in the yard and in the fields.
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Rabid raccoon attacks Pike Road child
By Allen Henry
PIKE ROAD, AL (WSFA) -
A 4-year-old in Pike Road is recovering after being attacked by a rabies-infected raccoon.
Now, the girl's father and the health department are warning the public about the dangers of wild animals.
Nicholas Hughes says instinct kicked in when he heard his daughter Harper scream in their backyard and found a rabid raccoon gnawing on her leg.
"The only thing I could think of when I got back here and saw what was happening was making sure the animal was dead," Hughes said. "I ran back here, and I kicked it with my right foot. And it bit through my shoe and into my foot. I had to use my left foot to try and break its neck because it wasn't letting go of either me or her."
State Public Health Veterinarian Dee Jones says rabid animals are typically more aggressive.
"That aggressive behavior is actually the way the virus is propagated from one animal to the next through the salivary glands," Jones said.
The night of the attack, one of Hughes' neighbors sent him a picture of the raccoon limping. It was taken hours before the attack occurred.
Jones says that should have been a red flag.
"Raccoons that are out during the day, typically a nocturnal animal, an animal that feeds at night, is out during the day usually because he's infected with the rabies virus," Jones said.
Both Hughes and his daughter are going through the rabies treatment process.
But he also knows things could have been much worse.
"She was kind of laid back, and it would have just taken a few seconds for it to make it up to her neck or face and at that point it would have probably been too late," Hughes said.
The Alabama Department of Public Health says raccoons make up at least 50 percent of all rabies cases every year, but cases like this are extremely rare.
They only have two or three humans exposed to rabies from a wild animal annually, but they say it's important to know what to do if it happens to you.
