Just when I think I’ve seen every strange headline imaginable come out of the state of Florida, I’m hit with another.
But this time, it’s not about a “Florida man” or “Florida woman” who snorted Robitussin and went on some kind of an insane rampage…
It’s about a rabid otter.
According to WPTV, a river otter with rabies bit a man and his dog last week in Jupiter, Florida.
The Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control report states that an officer was called at 11:18 AM to a location where the otter was trapped under a recycling bin in a driveway.
The animal control officer freed the creature, and was able to capture it using a net.
The report says the three-year-old otter was acting strangely, with hyperactive tendencies, and was biting the metal of the carrier while showing its teeth.
74-year-old Joseph Scaglione told Animal Care and Control that he was bitten by the otter while feeding corn to ducks at a nearby pond. After he was finished he turned to go inside, and that’s when he was bitten.
While he was walking back, he heard the ducks fly away, and that’s when he noticed the otter by the bank. He started to back up slowly while still facing the otter, but the creature proceeded to attack him for several minutes, eventually biting Scalione 41 times while he tried to get away.
He told the outlet:
“I backed up along the fence but when I started to close the gate, it charged immediately attacking my legs.
I started to push it away, and it started to bite my hands. One of the bites I have is on my pinkie and it ripped the nail off my pinkie. (It) like like the tooth went completely through my finger.”
After Scaglione got away from the rabid creature, a couple on a walk with their baby and a dog crossed paths with the otter, which proceeded to attack the dog before it was captured under a recycling bin.
Scaglione says he’s receiving a series of shots for rabies exposure, and he is going to a hand surgeon on Tuesday to see if there’s any permanent damage.
Tests on Saturday proved that Scaglione was positive for rabies.
Needless to say, I don’t think anybody on this planet is prepared to take on a rabid otter.
