‘I just encountered a monster’: Somerville woman relives ‘nightmare’ raccoon attack

SOMMERVILLE, Mass. — A Somerville woman is recovering after she says she was viciously attacked by a raccoon early Saturday morning.

Katherine Vanbuskirk has lived off Chestnut Street for decades and says raccoons are known to be in the area.

Saturday morning, she was letting her two dogs out into the back garden when she a raccoon leapt at her face.

“It flew at me from several different directions,” she told Boston 25 Sunday.

Vanbuskirk said she desperately fought off the animal as it was scratching her face and biting her.

After flinging it off of her, she said the raccoon would come back even more aggressive.

“‘This is horrible, this is a nightmare,’ I kept saying it to myself,” she said. “I couldn’t find any other words... I just encountered a monster.”

Vanbuskirk said she was able to make it inside and shut the door behind her. Even though she was bloodied and bruised, she was able to call 911.

She added, “All I could do was scream, ‘Help me! Help me!’”

Vanbuskirk was treated with rabies shots and antibiotics at a nearby hospital. Thankfully, both dogs were also safe from the attack, she said.

She wanted to share her story to keep other Somerville residents safe, finishing, “If that changes my community, it’s all the better for me.”

Vanbuskirk is expected to make a full recovery.

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