A Massachusetts woman was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday after she mistook a rabid raccoon that crept into her house for her cat during the middle of the night, ABC News reported.
Ginny Ballou, 73, was laying in bed when she reached to pet her cat, Pretty Boy. However, before she could realize that the animal next to her wasn't Pretty Boy, the raccoon jumped on her face and wouldn't get off.
"She had been sleeping on her bed and she thought it was a cat and she went to pat it and found out it was a raccoon," Sgt. Steven Dearth of the Hingam Police Department told ABC News. "It began to attack her and bit onto her mouth."
After a frightening two minutes, Ballou was eventually able to free herself of the raccoon's tough grip and throw it on the ground.
Though ABC could not reach her for comment, her daughter, Jen Bowles, recalled the horrifying incident.
"She used her landline telephone to smash it on the head. It ran out of the bedroom; she closed her door and called 911," Bowles said.
Animal Control and environmental police quickly arrived at Ballou's home and found the raccoon, which tested positive for rabies, hiding behind the toilet. After capturing the raccoon, it was taken to a veterinarian to be euthanized.
Dearth added this is the first time he's ever experienced a situation like this during his time as a police officer.
"This is a unique occurrence and something you would not expect, especially with a small pet door," he said. "She's had this cat door for 20 years and never had any issues with anything coming in."
At the hospital, Ballou received multiple rabies shots and was treated for other injuries, including puncture wounds on her thumbs and fingers, stitches to a gash on her lip, and scratches on her face and neck. She was released later that night.
