"I was not expecting to see a raccoon attacking her," Logan MacNamara from Ashford, Connecticut, shared.
A Connecticut mom saved her 5-year-old daughter from a raccoon that latched onto the child's leg. The incident took place outside the family's home in Ashford while the little girl was waiting for her school bus.
"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," Logan Kelsey MacNamara, the brave mom, told Storyful about the "unprovoked" attack according to the New York Post. "If I didn't have the video I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what happened, it all happened so fast."
'Mom of the year' heroically saves daughter from 'rabid' raccoon in wild video https://t.co/pN6fGbSHiN pic.twitter.com/mb9MX9uieY
— New York Post (@nypost) December 6, 2022
The encounter was caught on video by MacNamara's home security camera. In the surveillance footage, MacNamara's 5-year-old daughter Rylee can be seen standing on the front porch when a raccoon came out of nowhere and approached her. The animal appears to bite at her jeans and leg causing her to scream in fright.
"I was going out to get on the bus and a raccoon was there and tried to attack me," the child told local outlet WFSB. "It didn't want to go off of my leg." In the video, MacNamara is seen rushing out of the house and instructing her daughter to go inside after pulling the animal off her leg. "It's a rabid racoon, get some help!" she screamed before throwing the animal into the yard. The animal is then seen running off from the scene.
There's no confirmation as of yet if the raccoon was indeed rabid. "I thought maybe she slammed her finger in the door. I definitely wasn't expecting to see a raccoon wrapped around her leg," the mom said of the incident, adding: "We just kind of panicked at first. I was more scared than anything." The mother and child both went to the hospital, received rabies shots, and came back home in a couple of hours. The little girl had a few puncture wounds but didn't have anything more severe probably due to the thickness of her pants, MacNamara noted.
MacNamara is being called "mother of the year" on the internet thanks to her quick thinking and courageous act. Geoff Krukar, a wildlife biologist for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told FOX 61 that she did the right thing as the animal appeared to be sick. "The mother behaved in a way that was very heroic," he said. "I think she did everything, everything correctly. By avoiding getting bit, warning the neighbor to stay back and getting the child to safety."
Yes. She threw the raccoon to get distance, and therefore time, to get safely in the house and shut the door. It was a smart move.
— John Fortman 🇺🇸🇺🇦🎸 (@JohnFortman) December 3, 2022
References:
https://nypost.com/2022/12/05/mom-heroically-saves-daughter-from-rabid-raccoon/
https://www.fox9.com/news/watch-heroic-mom-connecticut-saves-young-daughter-rabid-raccoon-attack
https://www.wfsb.com/2022/12/02/racoon-attack-ashford/
Cover Image Source: YouTube | WFSB 3
