Women gets attacked by a gang of raccoons

**Mr Bear** · 10-05-2009, 02:29 PM

Sheriff Describes Raccoon "Gang Attack" On Woman | WUSA9.com | Washington, DC |

Sheriff Describes Raccoon "Gang Attack" On Woman

A woman is recovering from serious injuries in the hospital after sheriff's investigators say she was "gang attacked" by five raccoons Saturday afternoon.

Lakeland, Florida (WTSP) -- A Lakeland woman is recovering from serious injuries in the hospital after sheriff's investigators say she was "gang attacked" by five raccoons Saturday afternoon.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says 74-year-old Gretchen Whitted was trying to shoo the animals away from her front door when they suddenly attacked.

"When she fell down, they enveloped her," said Sheriff Judd in a news conference called Sunday to warn the public of the aggressive raccoons.

"She's literally bitten and scratched from face and the chest all the way down through the legs."

Raccoons are known to be aggressive when going after food, but the sheriff called Saturday's attack very unusual.

"Not in all my years in Florida have I known of a gang attack by raccoons on an individual," Sheriff Judd said.

Christy Steinmetz lives next door to Whitted and ran across the street when she heard her neighbor's screams.

"I've never seen anything like it," Steinmetz said of the attack and her neighbors deep wounds. "They were deep lacerations. You could see flesh."

Sheriff Judd called a news conference Sunday to warn parents in the Lakeland neighborhood about the potential danger.

"They've attacked once. If someone frightens them, will they attack again?" Judd asked.

Polk County Animal Control officers fanned out, placing traps across the neighborhood, in hopes of finding the raccoons involved.

"Even if we capture a lot of raccoons [Sunday night], we can't be sure they are our suspect raccoons," Sheriff Judd said.

If caught, the animals will be killed to see whether they are rabid.

weird

**RachelSexton** · 10-05-2009, 03:01 PM

were they bloods or crips?

**golden** · 10-05-2009, 03:26 PM

Coons are sneaky.

**Spinnr1** · 10-05-2009, 04:33 PM

haha we actually used to go out to the lake and take a can of biscuits or buy some fish bait like chicken liver or something and we'd start a fire and let it burn down to just coals before nightfall, and we'd put our backs to the water right at the shore and shut off all the lights. once darkness hit you'd hear noises and every once in a while you'll see the coals disappear like something walked in front of them, and after a half hour of darkness you can turn the lights on and there would be raccoons everywhere around you oblivious that you are even there. but don't try to scare em off cause they do get pissed
evil little animals they are

**KJ26** · 10-05-2009, 06:00 PM

I bet those raccoons watched this: Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko (1994) many times and got their idea.

**anthrox** · 10-05-2009, 06:58 PM

why am I not surprised this happened in FL? It actually happened to me a few years back, except it was only 1 raccoon, and I didn't get a single scratch on me. He came at me as I was taking out the trash, and I kicked him in the head, which actually killed him, I didn't mean for that to happen, but I wasn't about to have to go to get a shit load of rabies shots either. But I was just lucky it wasn't a pack of them, then I would have been fucked...