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Nothing can stop 95-year-old Marijoy Kellner from going out for her morning jog – not even a wild raccoon attack.
On January 31, Kellner considered staying because of the cold weather, but he committed to walking 7,000 steps a day. So she packed up, grabbed her walking sticks, and headed to Taddle Creek Park in Toronto’s Annex neighborhood.
She was halfway through the park when a raccoon ran up to her, attached itself to her left leg and began viciously biting her.
“I was stunned. I didn’t even really know what kind of animal it was,” Kellner told CBC Toronto this week while sitting on a bench in the park.
“I should have attacked him with my lathis but I was so dazed that I didn’t think about it and he kept biting me.”
A man came up behind her and forcefully removed the animal from her leg, she said. By then a small crowd had gathered.
Witness says raccoon acted strange
Sarah Potts, a nearby resident, saw the raccoon while she was on her way to work. After noticing that it was not looking well, he kept his eye on Kellner as he was passing by.
“The raccoon is coming [Kelner] And I thought ‘uh oh,'” she told CBC.
Potts said the raccoon then went completely wild, running across the road and biting nearby cars.
“I felt so bad for him, I felt so bad for him [Kelner]Potts said.
Before Kellner was bitten, crossing guard Susan McElroy had already called the city to report the raccoon’s strange behavior.
Still, she was surprised when she saw a man kicking.
“I thought, ‘Why would he do that?’ McIlroy said. “Then I saw it came right back and that’s when I knew [Kelner was] In Trouble.”
When Animal Services workers arrived, Massilori said they captured the raccoon and took it in for testing.
Here I am out for a walk, this nice little sweet old lady. Suddenly, I was attacked by this monster. This is such a weird story.– Marijoy Kellner, 95.
Meanwhile, after much effort, Kellner was taken by ambulance to the emergency department. Later, he received a shot of the rabies vaccine in all five of his bite wounds.
“One morsel was particularly dark, the others not too bad,” Kellner said.
The next day animal services told her she would not need further treatment because the raccoon had not tested positive for rabies, she said.
Since then, Kellner said she has largely recovered.
“I am grateful that I am healthy and that I am able to withstand such attacks,” she said with a laugh.
“I thought it was really a joke. Here I am out for a walk, this nice little sweet old lady, all of a sudden this monster attacks me. It’s such a strange story.”
42 raccoon exposures reported this year: TPH
Toronto Public Health TPH said that between January 1 and March 8 of this year, 42 reports of raccoon exposure were received and investigated, compared to an average of 12 reports received during the same period each of the previous five years.
However, Toronto Animal Services (TAS) said there has not been an increase in service requests for sick or injured raccoons in the downtown core.
TAS said one of the possible reasons behind the raccoon’s behavior could be a viral disease called distemper, which can cause raccoons to approach people, act lethargic or disoriented, and become aggressive if cornered. Are. The TAS said distemper attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous systems and is often fatal.
Despite the ordeal, this did not stop Kellner from making his move.
,[She is] So brave,” McIlroy said. “Everyone was so worried that she’d be hurt, she’d never come out again, and there [she was],