75-Year-Old Pensioner Strangled Racoon To Death Following Botanical Garden Attack

When 75-year-old Cas Overton visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden on Saturday for some bird watching, the last thing she expected was to be attacked in broad daylight by a rabid racoon.

After trying to shake the creature off her leg, Overton explained that she had to take more radical action against her attacker. Recalling the incident, she said the following.

“I tried to shake it off and realized how violent it was. As I moved 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. I am a terrific animal lover. 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.”

An examination of the dead racoon did confirm that it was suffering from an advanced stage of rabies.

As a precaution, Overton was taken to the Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital for some rabies shots, as the Chesterfield Health District director Dr. Parham Jaberi warned, “We know that these types of incidents do occur in our communities and that we’re prepared to respond,” adding, “Really, it’s an opportunity to share the basic prevention messages to all of our community members and residents every time we have an incident like this.”

Meanwhile, officials at the botanical garden have erected signs warning visitors to be alert for any strange behavior by animals like racoons.

Beth Monroe from Lewis Ginter told reporters, “Visitor safety is our first priority. We have posted signs at our front desk … We encourage people to stay on the main garden path and be alert to suspicious behavior of wildlife. We are double checking that pathway.”

In recalling more details from the brutal racoon attack, Overton said,

“When the animal was finally still, I was able to get over to the Bloemendaal House on the back of the property. It wasn’t far. There was a man at the house who very graciously contacted the main number in the lobby of the reception area of the garden. Within five minutes there was an ambulance there and animal control. They were remarkable.”