‘A nasty and determined raccoon’: Malden woman attacked by rabid raccoon, saved by blind, pan-wielding husband

Little did one Malden woman know that when she heard her chicken squawking in the backyard, she would be met with the vicious teeth of a rabid raccoon.

Luckily for Laurie Rose, her husband Brad Day — despite being blind — was able to strike the hostile animal several times, getting it to release its grip from Rose’s heel.

The series of bizarre events unfolded Saturday night, according to WCVB, which interviewed the couple.

After hearing Alice the chicken’s squawks, Rose went into the backyard to put the bird in her pen. She then saw the masked mammal.

“It just charged me and I slipped and it grabbed ahold of my heel and it would not let go,” she told the news station.

Day had a pan, but because he’s blind, he said he couldn’t see where the raccoon was; he could only hear his wife screaming about being bitten.

“And I just kind of reached down and felt with the pan where it was and I kind of whacked it four or five times as hard as I could,” he said, according to WCVB.

The couple then rushed into their home and phoned police.

“It was a nasty and determined raccoon,” Malden police Officer Michael Polston told WCVB. “When I went into the backyard, the raccoon was at the opposite end of the yard and ended up charging at me and coming at me.”

He then shot the animal, according to the news station. The raccoon tested positive for rabies, and Rose is now undergoing a round of rabies shots.

The incident has city animal control warning residents to not leave animals outside in the yard after dark.

“When it gets dark, don’t leave your animal unattended in your yard because any urban area, city or town you could end up like this and we don’t want that to happen,” Kevin Alkins of Malden Animal Control told the news station.

Watch the full interview with the couple:

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