Gretchen Whitted is recovering in fair condition at Lakeland Regional Medical Center where she's undergoing precautionary treatment for rabies after the family of raccoons bit and clawed her to the ground, then continued attacking.
quot;Not in all my years in Florida have I ever known of a gang attack by raccoons on an individual,quot; said Sheriff Grady Judd in a Sunday news conference alerting neighborhood residents to the potential danger. quot;She's literally bitten and scratched from face and the chest all the way down through the legs.quot;
Sheriff Judd has ordered the county's animal control officers to maintain 24-hour surveillance on the area including hourly checks of 16 traps in place throughout the neighborhood. Officers are hopeful sardines and wet cat food will attract some of the raccoons involved in attack. (Click here for a map of the Waterford neighborhood)
Wildlife experts say raccoons are much more aggressive than most people think.
quot;They have claws like a bear, they have teeth like a bear and they bark like a dog,quot; says Jason Levinson, of Animals Beware, a nuisance wildlife removal company.
Levinson says he gets four to five calls every day from people complaining about raccoons around or even inside their homes.
quot;They're basically little bears on crack,quot; he said of their aggressiveness, especially when hungry.
Part of the problem may have to do with raccoons easy access to human food from unsecured garbage cans, open garage doors, or even people who feed the raccoons left overs from dinner.
quot;They will take any morsel and come back and bring the family,quot; Levinson said.
He believes the raccoon population is growing in places like Polk County and predicts even more raccoon, human interactions in the future.
Meanwhile, residents in the neighborhood where the raccoon attack happened remain cautious.
quot;To have four or five just attack. I've never heard of it before,quot; said neighbor Rick Moser. quot;The last couple nights we've just not seen anyone out walking. Children have been staying in. It has put a fear into the neighborhood.quot;/>
