![\"Rhode](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/16875616-d123-4039-bc48-05c2e945d0ed-RIDOH1e17176209077980.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) \u2014 A Providence woman is recovering after she was attacked by a raccoon while pulling weeds in her backyard earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Providence police said the attack happened on the evening of Aug. 3 on Vassar Avenue.<\/p>\n
Catherine Bodner said she was working in her backyard when she suddenly heard a growl.<\/p>\n
Catherine Bodner told NBC 10’s Leanna Faulk she was working in her backyard when she suddenly heard a growl. (WJAR)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard them growl and felt it attached to the back of my leg,\u201d Bodner said. \u201cAnd as it happened, I had my pruners in my hand, so I smacked it.”<\/p>\n
She said the raccoon eventually fell off, allowing her to get up and run inside. Her husband then took her to Miriam Hospital.<\/p>\n
Bodner said once she arrived at the hospital, her biggest concern was the fact that she was bleeding and had been attacked by a raccoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just said, I was attacked by a raccoon. I’m bleeding,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Police said Bodner spent the rest of the night at Miriam Hospital and will undergo weeks of shots.<\/p>\n
Bodner said she has started a series of rabies vaccinations and is also taking antibiotics.<\/p>\n
Rhode Island State Epidemiologist Dr. Suzanne Bornschein said a raccoon behaving unusually during the daytime can be cause for concern.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo unusual activity during the day for an animal that’s normally nocturnal would have some concerns for this being a neurologic issue,\u201d Bornschein said. \u201cAnd certainly of those issues we would be considering rabies as raccoons are well known to be a rabies vector species.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bornschein said anyone who is bitten or scratched by a wild animal should first get away from the animal and then seek medical care, particularly if the skin was broken or there was possible contact with saliva.<\/p>\n
She warned that delaying treatment can have deadly consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, one thing we know about rabies, so rabies is unfortunately a disease that without the appropriate and timely treatment is almost always fatal,\u201d Bornschein said.<\/p>\n
The Rhode Island Department of Health is also seeing signs of an increase in rabies-positive animals this year.<\/p>\n
Bornschein said roughly the same number of animals are being tested at the state lab, but a greater number are coming back positive for rabies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rhode Island Department of Health. (WJAR)\u200b<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re seeing that around the same number, but we’re seeing an uptick in the number of species that have been tested that are testing positive for rabies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bodner said she is feeling OK but admitted she is now more cautious about going back into her backyard alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m a little weary of going out by myself ’cause now I don’t know what’s behind me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After surviving the attack, Bodner had some simple advice for anyone who finds themselves face-to-face with an aggressive raccoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarry a big stick,\u201d she said. \u201cBe ready to smack it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) \u2014 A Providence woman is recovering after she was attacked by a raccoon while pulling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[97],"class_list":["post-806481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}