Benny and the rabid Central park raccoon: our lucky day

By BL Ochman

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Raccoons are nocturnal. But the other morning, while Benny was running around off-leash in Central Park when I suddenly saw a huge raccoon on the ground, at 8 a.m. The next thing I knew, Benny and the raccoon were nose to nose.

Knowing several rabid raccoons have recently been found in New York City, I screamed at Benny at the top of my lungs to get away from the raccoon. He didn’t bark at it, or engage it other than to act like he wanted to know what this wild creature was. The raccoon just stood there, and did not scratch or bite him. Clearly, it was not well.

Thankfully, we’ve worked on Benny’s recall enough times, and he understood my urgency in calling him, and he came back to me. I thought I’d have a heart attack in the seconds that seemed like hours while he decided what to do!

The raccoon was dazed
The raccoon lumbered away, very slowly, and climbed up the tree where they’d met. It clearly had a hard time getting up the tree.

Because we’re there every day, I know the park workers, and I told them what had happened. They said they would report it, and so, shaken, I walked Benny away from the area, on his leash.

We’ve since learned that the raccoon Benny encountered was indeed rabid, and I know how lucky we were that my dog wasn’t attacked.

Learn the details about rabies, including how to recognize an infected animal on the New York City Department of Health website. Here’s a listing of animals testing positive for rabies, to date, in New York City. The raccoon we encountered was near east 85th Street on December 28th, and hasn’t made it to the website yet.