GLASSBORO, N.J. — A South Jersey man is urging residents to keep their distance from wildlife after he says an apparently rabid raccoon attacked him Sunday morning.
The encounter unfolded in the Elsmere section of Glassboro as Kevin Tucker was walking toward his trailer.
Tucker said the first sign something was wrong was a disturbing noise coming from a wooded area nearby. “There was an unusual screaming, screeching sound coming from the woods about 50 feet from me,” he recalled. “I could see these bright yellow eyes.”
Moments later, he said, the animal burst out from the brush and rushed toward him as he neared his home.
“I was walking to leave when a raccoon came out of the shrubbery and charged me,” Tucker said. “I kind of fell backward, and I think that’s when it bit the front part of my right leg.”
The raccoon was later caught, but Tucker said the scare did not end with him. Before it was captured, he said, the animal also went after other people in the neighborhood.
According to Tucker, another resident described symptoms that raised concerns the raccoon may have been rabid. “He said the eyes were glassy and saliva was coming out of its mouth,” Tucker said.
Tucker said he went to the hospital afterward to be evaluated following the bite.
Authorities have not released testing results or officially confirmed whether the raccoon was rabid.
Officials routinely urge residents to avoid contact with wild animals and to keep pets up to date on their vaccinations.
Anyone bitten or scratched by a wild animal should seek medical attention immediately and contact local animal control or health officials
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