A Virginia woman showed one raccoon that she will not be messed with.
75-year-old Cas Overton, who was watching birds at the time of the attack, strangled a rabid raccoon after it charged at her and bit her in the leg Saturday afternoon at the Richmond-area Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, according to the NY Daily News.
“I tried to shake it off and realized how violent it was,” Overton told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
He added, “As I move backward away from it, I grabbed its neck and I knew that I couldn’t get away from it. If I ran, it would be faster than I would and would just tear me to pieces. So I threw it to the ground and I strangled it. With both hands.”
The raccoon was confirmed yesterday to have rabies, according to USA Today. Overton reportedly stated that she believes the raccoon emerged from a bamboo thicket to attack her.
After the animal stopped moving, the former Tai Chi instructor reportedly made her way to find help and was taken to a hospital via ambulance. She reportedly had to start a series of rabies shots.
The recent raccoon attack hasn’t stopped Overton from finishing her walk at the Botanical Garden, according to WWBT.
“I am a terrific animal lover,” explained Overton.
She continued, “It’s the last thing in the world I would have ever wanted to do, but you know self-preservation kicks in, and I guess a primitive part of my brain just went into operation and that was it.”
The way Overton handled the scuffle with the raccoon has made her a hero among social media users.
“Holy cow, 75 year old woman strangled rabid raccoon to death at Lewis Ginter with her bare hands. You go, grandma!,” wrote Twitter user Mariane Matera.
