A woman is in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after being attacked by a raccoon in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Witnesses said the woman was walking her dog near Cardero and West Hastings streets in Coal Harbour when a raccoon attacked her dog and then turned on her. The raccoon viciously bit and scratched her legs for several minutes, even after she picked up her dog and tried to run away.
“[It was] actually chasing her,” said neighbour Laura Skelton. “No matter where she went that thing was not leaving her alone and biting the back of her legs.”
Neighbours ran to help the woman when they heard screams and eventually scared the raccoon off.
Wildlife officers are trying to locate the vicious raccoon and say the attack could be caused by people feeding the animals. If approached by a raccoon people should yell, stomp and try to scare the animal away.
