When the conservation among a group of friends gets a little weird, you might start to hear one of them claim that they could totally take a wild and dangerous animal in a fight .
But of course, people never really expect the situations where they actually have to put those ideas to the test. Because when a wild beast does lunge at us out of nowhere, it’s impossible to tell how we’re going to react.
While it’s usually smartest to put as much distance between you and a dangerously temperamental animal as possible, some folks won’t always have that luxury because the creature can latch onto them or someone they love before they know it.
That’s why it’s always so impressive to hear stories in which someone did successfully fight an unexpected predator off. And in the case that one Massachusetts woman experienced, it would be a critical mistake to underestimate that animal by its size.
On December 1, 70-year-old Donna Sanginario was putting up her Christmas lights when she heard a strange noise coming from the street.
Unfortunately, People reported that this would be her only warning before a raccoon that was initially about 10 feet away approached and pounced on her.
As she said, “Before I could do anything it jumped at me. Worst nightmare of my life. Both me and the raccoon were screaming so loud.”
During the struggle, the raccoon apparently latched onto her right arm, as she would later show the bites and bruises it left her with.
And although Sanginario said it fell off her at one point while she was screaming for help, it quickly jumped back onto her body before she tumbled to the ground.
In her words, “I really thought I was going to die.”
But after that transpired, she was able to get into the right position to wrap her arms around its head and put it into a headlock.
Although she thought she could hear the bones in the raccoon’s neck break at the time, she’s now wondering if she was actually hearing the sounds of her own bones since she’s now due for an X-ray.
And although the animal kept biting her while it was in this headlock, it eventually fell silent and got up before walking away after she let go of it.
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As far as Sanginario knows, the raccoon has not yet been found since her encounter, but she suspects that it was rabid.
According to People , she has since received a series of shots for rabies and tetanus. She will also soon undergo another series of shots along with her X-ray.
On December 3, she showed her Facebook followers what the raccoon did to her and told her story in a short post .
As she said, “It’s been a rough couple days but a weekend with my girlfriends is helping take the pain and trauma away.”
h/t: People
