There are very few places parents feel comfortable enough to let their children play without supervision and the backyard is just about the only place even over protective parents let their kids roam free.
However, one Alabama dad is warning parents that the backyard isn’t as safe as everyone thinks it is, even if it’s fenced in, after he looked out the window one day and saw his four-year-old daughter fighting for her life.
Nicholas Hughes was just feet from his daughter who was playing in the backyard when he heard a hair-raising scream. He instantly ran outside to see what happened and found his four-year-old named Harper desperately trying to fight off a rabid raccoon that was biting her leg.
“The only thing I could think of when I got back here and saw what was happening was making sure the animal was dead,” Hughes said. “I ran back here, and I kicked it with my right foot. And it bit through my shoe and into my foot. I had to use my left foot to try and break its neck because it wasn’t letting go of either me or her.”
Rabid animals are often extremely aggressive, and Hughes knows that if he hadn’t been there in time, Harper wouldn’t have survived. “She was kind of laid back, and it would have just taken a few seconds for it to make it up to her neck or face and at that point, it would have probably been too late,” he said. Luckily, he was able to get the raccoon off his and Harper’s leg and went straight to the hospital to get treated for rabies, which is deadly without treatment.
Watch the entire video below to see how this 4-year-old almost died while playing in the backyard.
WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL
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[Featured image: WAFF]
4-Year-Old Almost Dies After Being Attacked By A Rabid Raccoon is an article from: LifeDaily