Beware of getting too close to a mother raccoon and her young.
A Lakewood woman was chased and mauled by several raccoons near Fort Steilacoom Park Monday, leaving her with about 100 scratches, puncture and bite wounds.
Police said around 1:30 p.m., a 28-year-old woman was jogging with her dog near her home at the edge of the park when her dog got loose and started chasing some raccoons. Turns out, the raccoons included a mama raccoon and her babies, said Lt. Chris Lawler with Lakewood police.
Her dog chased the raccoons up a tree. When she went to fetch her dog, more raccoons came out of the brush and began chasing her. Witnesses say the woman took off running with 6-7 raccoons chasing after her. She made it about 75 feet to a neighbor's yard where she was knocked down to the ground and mauled by the raccoons.
A witness said he saw three really big raccoons attacking the woman while she was on the ground and he yelled for help. The attack lasted for about 15-20 seconds before she was able to get away.
The woman was transported in an ambulance to a hospital. The woman's boyfriend said she ended up with about 100 wounds, consisting of scratches, scrapes and puncture wounds. He said she had about 16-18 puncture/bite wounds.
Lakewood police said there haven't been any other reported problems with raccoons in the park or in the city. An Animal Control spokesman said he believes this was a case of a mother raccoon trying to protect her young and not an unprovoked attack.
Animal control adds it is rare for raccoons to carry rabies and they are more of a threat to dogs with canine distemper than anything else.
KING 5's Drew Mikkelsen and Liza Javier contributed to this report.
