A Nebraska football player's attempt to take a selfie with a "soft and friendly" raccoon went horribly wrong when the animal lashed out at the man, who then killed the raccoon.
Jack Gangwish was driving down a street outside the town of Lincoln when he saw the furry critter on the side of the road, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
The 21-year-old college athlete pulled over, hopped out of his Chevy pickup truck and tried to use his cellphone to take a selfie with the wild animal. But the photo-shy raccoon didn't like the intrusion and bit Gangwish in the calf.
"Guys...I got bit by a raccoon...It just looked so soft and friendly I couldn't help it!" Gangwish, a defensive end for the Cornhuskers, wrote in a tweet along with a picture of the bite wound, ABC 10 News reported. The message was later deleted.
After he was bitten, Gangwish grabbed a crescent wrench and tried to quell the tiny beast so it could be tested for rabies. But the 6-foot-2, 260-pound football player ended up killing the raccoon, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
"It was a raccoon selfie gone completely wrong," Gangwish said.
The rabies virus can cause anxiety, confusion and hallucinations followed by death if a person contracts it after being bitten by an infected animal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gangwish did not contract rabies from the raccoon, the New York Daily News reported.
