Rachel Borch, 21, of Hope, Maine, was running in the woods near her house when she was stopped on a trail. A raccoon blocked her way. Almost immediately the creature started running at her, and she suspected something was very wrong.
“I knew instantly it had to be rabid,” said Borch in an interview with the Bangor Daily News. “I knew it was going to bite me. It was terrifying.”
In an instant, Borch decided her best bet was to use her hands to defend herself and grab the raccoon, which she did as it bit her and latched onto her skin, according to the report. The raccoon further scratched her arms and legs, and sank its teeth deeper into her thumb.
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That’s when Borch noticed a deep puddle on the path where her phone had fallen during the struggle. And that was when she had an idea.
“I didn’t think I could strangle (the raccoon) with my bare hands,” she told the newspaper. “It was still struggling and clawing at my arms and legs, (and) it wouldn’t let go of my thumb.”
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Borch dragged the raccoon to the puddle and submerged it. After what she says felt like an eternity, the raccoon finally stopped the struggle, slowly relaxing and releasing her thumb from its mouth. Nearing hysterics, Borch said she raced home sans shoes, which were soaking wet.
Borch was taken by her mother to Pen Bay Medical Center, where she received six shots for the rabies she tested positive for from the bite. She said she will no longer think of raccoons as harmless woodland creatures.
