When you’re walking your dog, it’s a good idea to give any wildlife you come across a wide berth. Sometimes it’s for your dog’s sake, sometimes it’s for the wildlife’s sake, and sometimes it’s for your sake.
But when wildlife comes charging at you, things change.
Nykeria Clark from Orlando, Florida, was walking her Yorkshire terrier Jojo recently when a raccoon started barreling toward them.
“While we were out there, he noticed something in the trees, so he stopped, looked up in the tree, and once I saw him stop and look up in the tree, that’s when I saw a raccoon,” Clark told WSVN-TV.
But the raccoon did not stay in the tree and instead chased Clark and Jojo, attacking Jojo as Clark ran screaming back toward the house.
You would think that once owner and dog were in the house, the livid raccoon would stop — but it did not. Doorbell camera shows the raccoon pausing for a moment on the porch before running after them into the house after Clark opened the door.
“I was basically in, like, a panic mode,” Clark said. “So at that point, I tried to find whatever I could find.
“I got a mop, and I tried to scare it off with a mop, and then once I scared it off with a mop, it hid in the blinds.”
Animal services came to remove the raccoon from the house, leaving Clark and Jojo to process what had happened. Clark posted a video of the attack on TikTok.
It took animal services more than an hour to remove the raccoon.
“Chased us in the house.. too bold I’m traumatized,” Clark wrote. “Taking my baby to Vet Asap.”
Clark immediately took Jojo to the vet, where they didn’t find any bites but gave him a rabies vaccine just in case. The dog will have to be quarantined for six months as a precaution.
Many people immediately thought the raccoon must be rabid to behave as it did — and raccoons certainly are common vectors of the dreaded virus — but a short while later, Clark noticed something in the tree in their front yard.
Baby raccoons. Five of them.
@nykelovee Contacted animal services again but they dont handle these type of reports they say.. and that we should contact a wildlife trapper?? #angryraccoon #CheetosReaperReactions #ItsGreatOutdoors #foryou #fy #fyp ♬ Sunny Day – Ted Fresco
“Here’s the answer to why we were chased with so much aggression,” the text on an update video reads.
“Contacted animal services again but they dont handle these type of reports they say.. and that we should contact a wildlife trapper,” the caption reads.
While the mystery appears to be solved, Clark has a word for other pet owners.
“Always stay cautious because there are raccoons, wild animals out there. We just have to make sure that we’re always on our p’s and q’s,” she said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
