DAVENPORT, Fla. — A raccoon who bit a 15-year-old boy last week tested positive for rabies, the sheriff's office says.
Damian Ransom tells 10News he was with his friends in his neighborhood when he saw a raccoon limping. Thinking it was injured, he says he tried to help the animal.
"I went to pick it up and when I went to pick it up it turned real fast and bit me once and let go and then bit me again," Ransom said.
His grandmother says she didn't even believe him at first.
"He texted me 'haha I got bit by a raccoon' so I thought, 'He’s joking.' So I called him and he told me, 'No, I really, got bit by a raccoon,'" Debra Toornburg said.
She says she rushed him to the hospital, where doctors admitted him quickly and then gave him seven shots. Ransom says he's feeling OK now, but has a message for other teens after the scary experience.
"Don’t play with raccoons or any wildlife that looks injured. Just call animal control and let them take care of it," he said.
It is the 10th such reported case in Polk County this year.
The county's animal control responded Thursday, Nov. 14, to the Providence neighborhood in regard to the animal bite, according to a news release. His grandmother reported the teen was bitten on the hand after he saw the sick raccoon while trying to help it.
"It is imperative that children are told to avoid animals like bats, raccoons, and foxes out in the wild, and let me be clear---these animals are wildlife," Sheriff Grady Judd said in the release. "If you see one in distress, leave it alone and contact Polk County Animal Control immediately."
The 10 cases of rabies across the county include five bats and five raccoons. The ninth case happened last week, as well.
The county says there only were three cases of rabies confirmed last year.
What other people are reading right now:
- Chick-fil-A to stop donating to Christian organizations that drew LGBTQ protests
- Highway patrol: 3 dead in shooting at Walmart in Oklahoma
- Sheriff: More than 100 people arrested in human trafficking investigation
- 10 shot, 4 killed at backyard party in Fresno, Calif.
- Man falls to his death on Carnival cruise ship
- Polk County firefighters working to put out large fire at a Lakeland recycling facility
FREE 10NEWS APP:
