Halifax resident recovering after being attacked by raccoon in backyard

A Halifax resident is recovering from a raccoon attack over the weekend that left her with eight bites and several scratches on her hand and legs.

Grace Murphy said the animal lunged at her with little warning when she was about to walk back into her housearound 8:30 p.m. AT on Saturday. The raccoonwas hiding under an air conditioning unit near the stairs.

"I didn't even see it until it was on me, pretty much," Murphytold CBC Radio's Maritime Noon on Monday. "It got on my leg and was biting down and like, holding, basically."

She started screaming and tried to kickthe animal off of her. When that didn't work, she reached down to grab the back of the raccoon'sneck.

"And then it turned around and it bitmy thumb and also wouldn't get off," Murphysaid.

Hear Grace Murphy describe the attack:

Murphysaid she shook it off and moved away, hoping the animal would take its cue to leave. Instead, it lunged at her a third time, backing her into afence.

By then,a neighbourhad heard her screams and rushed to help.

"It was actually coming at me for a fourth time when my neighbour picked up a rock and threwit and hit it," Murphy said, adding that the raccoon ran away after that.

She estimates the attack lasted a minute or two, but saidit felt much longer.

"I actually have no idea how I would have gotten away if my neighbour hadn't shown up because ithad me backed into a corner at that point and it was coming so fast and so frequently," she said.

Raccoon likely protecting babies, says DNR

Butch Galvez,a wildlife technician with the provincial Department of Natural Resources, said a few weeks ago, a raccoon with four babies was spotted next door. It's likely the same raccoon thatattacked Murphy, he said.

"She's been moving her babies around the neighbourhood ... You get in between a mother raccoon when she's moving her youngand she may be protective," Galvez said.

The departmentinvestigated the attackand is still looking for the raccoon, but Galvezsaid it may be difficult to track down given the number of raccoons that live in that part of the city.

Residents have been told to keep an eye out,check under their decksand in their sheds and other dark places around their houses.

Galvez said his department typically investigates one raccoon incident every summer, but not all are this violent.

"Fortunately it's very rare, but the few cases that I've seen, the individuals had to fight back fairly aggressively to stop the attack," he said.

Received rabies vaccine

Murphy's neighbour drove her to the hospital after the attack and the next day she received the first round of the rabies vaccine.

Galvez said so farthe Department of Natural Resources hasn't detected rabies in Nova Scotia raccoons, but it's been found in raccoons in New Brunswick and southern Ontario.

On average, the department tests about four tofive raccoons in Halifax a year for rabies alone, Galvez said. But during years where other diseaseslike distemperare circulating, they can test upwardof 100 raccoons.

If the department finds theraccoon that injured Murphy, it willbeeuthanized and tested, Galvezsaid.

Murphy said even though she's in pain and having trouble walking, she doesn't blame the raccoon.

"I'm just, you know, making my parents be all nice to me and bring me food and hugs," shechuckled,"just milking it because it's not every day you get attacked by a raccoon out of nowhere."