“I was scared out of my mind,” related Pat Mullin, Aug. 30, as she tried to explain the encounter she had with a very large raccoon in the early hours of Aug. 24 at Kings Creek Country Club.

Mullin, who works as a security guard at the fashionable country club and residential community in the heart of the Cape Region, was nearing the end of a routine patrol at 1:11 a.m., when she had to toss a trash bag into a closed Dumpster by the club’s maintenance center. “I lifted the lid and on top of the trash inside was this huge raccoon,” she said. “Before I could do anything, it jumped out at me and attached itself to my head and neck. It started squealing and clawing at my face and neck. I fell backwards onto the ground, and the raccoon kept right on attacking me. I screamed and then began defending myself. Fortunately I had my hat on and a jacket to protect my arms. But it clawed away at me pretty hard, and I didn’t think it was ever going to let go of me. It was big, strong and vicious. For some reason, that raccoon decided he wanted to do battle with me. It was terrifying.”

The attack finally ended and the raccoon took off. Mullin got into her patrol vehicle, logged the time in as 1:19 and went back to security headquarters. Coworkers saw the blood from scratches on her neck and hand and advised her to get immediate help at the hospital, which she did.

“The doctors on duty said that because the raccoon acted so strangely attacking me instead of running it could have been rabid,” Mullin explained. “They also said because of my open wounds from the attack, saliva could have dropped into them infecting me with the rabies virus.” Mullin was given a tetanus shot and four anti-rabies shots that night. She had another shot three days later and still has five more to get over the next four weeks.

“Fortunately, those shots are not the old type of 13 needles in the stomach,” she said. “But I happen to be one of the few people who gets a reaction to the newer anti-rabies shots. They make me very dizzy and nauseated, which is a big inconvenience, and I’ve had 102-degree temperatures from them.”

Mullin related how horrible it was when that raccoon jumped out at her from the dumpster. “All I knew was it was a big furry thing that had claws,” she recalled. “And all I know now is that it’s still out there in that community. People should know that. Parents should be careful not to send their children out with the trash after dark. It could attack again.”

Rabies, which is almost always present somewhere in Delaware, is most often found in raccoons, foxes, bats or cats. People encountering a raccoon acting strangely should notify the SPCA by calling 856-6361. Do not approach a strange acting raccoon or touch a dead one. Leave that to agents of the SPCA, who are contracted by the state to handle rabies cases.