Posted on 07/18/2002 6:56:30 PM PDT by chance33_98
Raccoon Climbs Into Crib, Bites Baby Child Had To Get Three Stitches, Rabies Shots
POSTED: 1:23 p.m. EDT July 18, 2002
AKRON, Ohio -- Health officials in Akron said a raccoon crawled into a baby's crib while he slept and attacked him.
Officials said the incident happened Friday night, and the child had to spend several days at Children's Hospital Medical Center of Akron.
Residents on Crouse Street are very concerned after a family put their child to bed, assuming the baby was safe and secure, and a raccoon jumped in the crib with him.
Apparently, the raccoon got into the house through the basement window.
The raccoon climbed in the child's bed and bit him. The child has three stitches because of the attack.
Many of the residents said there has been an increase in encounters with wild animals because there's a garbage transfer station nearby.
"Well, the other day, we saw a rat, and we saw the raccoon right in my driveway last night," resident Linda Dolan said. "That's where it got in the basement window -- is right in front of my driveway. We saw it last night, too. We saw it run up and down the road, ran up the tree."
The little boy who was bitten by the raccoon is doing well and is out of the hospital, according to doctors.
He had to undergo a series of rabies shots, because the raccoon was not captured.
Wildlife experts said it's surprisingly common for raccoons to enter homes, especially during the summer. In fact, the critters can squeeze through a space as small as 2.5 inches.
To keep the critters out of your house, make sure all your windows and screens are secure. Also, block off your chimney with a heavy screen. It's also important to trim tree branches so they're at least 10 feet from the roof. Finally, keep an eye on your pet door: Raccoons have been known to sneak in that way.
Venice, Fla. — Although Gunther Gebel-Williams has been dead one year and his son, Mark Oliver Gebel, has meanwhile been found "not guilty" of causing suffering to an elephant hit with a heavy bullhook, animal activists want it remembered that the elephants used in Ringling’s performances are still trained in traditional ways, with severe beatings, and they are angry because Ringling is still using Gebel-Williams’ name to collect money to exploit more elephants. Armed with videotape of Gebel-Williams wielding his bullhook and a video of one of Ringling’s other old trainers’ beating methods causing elephants to scream in fear and pain, a PETA activist, dressed like the devil, will literally dance on Gebel-Williams’ grave, holding as sign that reads, "See You in Hell, Elephant Beater."
* change the frequency code for
your garage door opener regularly,
as raccoons are good guessers.
* make sure your online computer
passwords contain some capital
letters and numbers. Never use
your birth year! Raccoons are
very clever.
* don't be too quick to use the
dust cloth when cleaning house.
Let things get a little dirty.
Raccoons wash their food before
eating and the sound of running
water in the kitchen/bathroom
is an excellent coon alarm.
It's like 1:30 am and I am cleaning the garage.. I have one of those brown plastic Runpke dumpster trash cans pulled up the the door and I am throwing stuff in it.
I hear a noise and I grab my club and ease outside to see what's up..
I look and there is stuff (the stuff I just put in there) FLYING up out of my trash can.. (So, I am pissed)
I ease up on the can and there is a big ole' fat racoon in there throwing stuff around (and OUT, and UP..)
I growled at him and he decides to leave, but he isn't scared.. He climbs up on the back of the can slowly and prepares to jump off in the opposite direction.
So, being the mean spirited (and angry cause he tossed out all my stuff) person that I am, I blasted him across the butt as hard as I could with my club. BLAM! Right on the keyster.
He just turned, looked at me.. paused, jumped and walked (did not run) out and dissapeared into the woods.
I was tired and went to bed, then next morning when I came out I saw that that coon had come back to the garage and pooped right on the spot in the floor where I was standing and took great pains to smear it all around with it's paws till I swear it was a spot a couple of feet large.
He must have been eating berries or something cause it stained my concrete. It's still there to this day. Ther was a cylinder head on the workbench and he pooped in that also.
And later, then when I left the window down on the car once overnight he peed in my drivers seat!
"We've got to get them before they get us." -'Hill Street Blues'
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