Not much can stop 95-year-old Merrijoy Kelner from getting outside for her morning walk — not even a savage raccoon attack.
On Jan. 31, Kelner contemplated staying in due to cold weather, but she’s committed to getting in 7,000 steps a day. So she bundled up, grabbed her walking sticks and headed toward Taddle Creek Park in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.
She was about halfway through the park when a raccoon ran up to her, attached itself to her left leg and began viciously biting her.
“I was stunned. I really didn’t even know what kind of animal it was,” Kelner told CBC Toronto this week while sitting on a bench in the park.
“I should have attacked it with my sticks but I was so stunned I didn’t think of that and it kept on biting me.”
A man came up from behind her and forcefully removed the animal from her leg, she said. By that time, a small crowd had gathered.
Raccoon acted strange, witness says
Nearby resident Sarah Potts saw the raccoon as she was walking to work. After noticing it didn’t look well, she kept her eye on it when Kelner was passing.
“The raccoon approaches [Kelner] and I thought ‘uh oh,'” she told CBC. “Then it gets up on its haunches and it bites her.”
Potts said the raccoon then went completely feral, running onto the road and biting nearby cars.
“I felt so bad for him, I felt more bad for [Kelner],” Potts said.
Before Kelner was bitten, crossing guard Susan Mcilroy had already called the city to report the raccoon’s strange behaviour.
Still, she was surprised when she saw a man kick it.
“I thought, ‘Why would he do that?'” said Mcilroy. “Then I saw it came right back and that’s when I knew [Kelner was] in trouble.”
When animal services workers arrived, Mcilory said they captured the raccoon and took it away for testing.
Here I am out for a stroll, this nice little sweet old lady. Suddenly, I’m attacked by this monster. It’s such a bizarre story.– Merrijoy Kelner, 95.
In the meantime, after much protest, Kelner was taken to the emergency department by ambulance. Later, she received a shot of the rabies vaccine in all five bite wounds.
“One bite was particularly deep, the others weren’t too bad,” said Kelner.
The next day animal services told her she would not need further treatment as the raccoon did not test positive for rabies, she said.
Since then, Kelner said she has healed quite well.
“I am grateful I am healthy and I am able to withstand these kinds of attacks,” she said with a chuckle.
“I just thought it’s a joke, really. Here I am out for a stroll, this nice little sweet old lady, suddenly I am attacked by this monster. It’s such a bizarre story.”
42 raccoon exposures reported this year: TPH
Toronto Public Health TPH said between Jan. 1 and March 8 of this year, it’s received and investigated 42 reports of raccoon exposures, compared to an average of 12 reports received during the same time period in each of the last five years.
However, Toronto Animal Services (TAS) said there has not been an increase in service requests for sick or injured raccoons in the downtown core.
TAS said one of the potential reasons behind the raccoon’s behaviour could be a viral disease called distemper, which may cause raccoons to approach people, act lethargic or disoriented, and be aggressive if cornered. Distemper attacks the respiratory, gastrointestinal and nervous system and is often fatal, TAS said.
Despite the ordeal, it hasn’t stopped Kelner from getting her steps in.
“[She is] so brave,” said Mcilory. “Everyone was so worried she will be traumatized, she will never come out again and there [she was].”