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Massachusetts woman hanging Christmas lights attacked by raccoon

LANCASTER, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman is recovering from injuries after she was attacked by a raccoon at her home.

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Donna Sanginario described the ordeal in a Facebook post, which she called the “worst nightmare of my life.”

This past Wednesday around 4 pm. I was putting some lights around bushes in front of my home. I could hear this strange...

Posted by Donna Sanginario on Friday, December 3, 2021

Sanginario was putting up Christmas lights on the bushes outside of her front door in Lancaster, Massachusetts, when she heard a noise that she told WFXT she first thought was a passing car. “And I looked, it was a huge raccoon that was just like 10 feet from me. So, I tried to take a step back and he jumped right in my face,” she told WFXT.

Sanginario said she and the raccoon rolled on the ground and it bit her multiple times before she was able to wrestle it away. She posted on Facebook saying she went to the hospital and is getting a series of rabies shots.

Sanginario said she estimated the raccoon weighed about 45 pounds, but the police were unable to find it to test it for rabies, Newsweek reported.

Raccoons are common in Massachusetts and carry a number of diseases that can infect people and pets. The Massachusetts Department of Wildlife suggests calling the Department of Public Health if a person gets a bite or scratch from a raccoon.