MONTEREY, Calif. -- Sheila Gale has lived in her Monterey home all her life. "We have had raccoons around here since I was a child. They would run on the roof, sometimes we would come out and see them on the garbage cans. But they would always run off," said Gale.
However, in the past couple of weeks raccoons aren't running away, but attacking. First, it was her two dogs. "We spent the night in the E. R.," said Gale.
Five days later, Gale herself became the victim. "He jumped on my arm and bit me and then finally ran off," said Gale.
Now Gale's courtyard is off limits once dusk hits.
"They are so aggressive, my teenage daughter is so scared to death at night," said Gale.
Another woman told me she was attacked with 6 bites on her foot, she paid up to $20,000 for rabies treatments.
Gale said she keeps her trash cans far away from her courtyard, which is why she doesn't understand why raccoons are going in there in the first place.
"I think it was probably a mom," said Rebecca Dmytryck, Director for Wild Rescue.
Dmytryck says when raccoons show aggression they are most likely protecting their own.
"We're protective, they are protective, we need to strike a balance," said Dmytryck. She adds removing the animals is not the solution.
"Its not humane," said Dmytryck. Instead she recommends scaring off the creatures with a can full of pennies. She also recommends putting hot water with hot sauce around your yard which will keep raccoons away.
Raccoon Bite Marks
