SAN FRANCISCO—A San Francisco couple is recovering from a raccoon attack outside their Richmond District home that happened late at night on August 17.

Patty Upsavs claims it was while she and her husband were out having a late-night walk with their small dog around the neighborhood that they encountered the animals.

According to reports, it was initially only a single raccoon that appeared and first attacked their dog.

Upsavs described the encounter to ABC7 News stating, “I started swinging the dog around trying to get it off. And then I got another one on my other leg.” She says she later turned to her husband for help, but realized that raccoons were “just jumping on him.”

Raccoons are commonly found digging through the trash cans of the Richmond District looking for food.
Raccoons are commonly found digging through the trash cans of the Richmond District looking for food.

It wasn’t until a neighbor, identified as Brian Wong, came to their rescue with a golf club and begun making noise on several trash cans when the raccoons were scared away.

The couple suffered a number of scratches and bite marks on their legs. Their dog was also injured, but is expected to be ok.

Though it was not confirmed whether any of the raccoons they encountered had rabies, the couple is still undergoing a series of anti-rabies treatments.

Upsavs revealed that her neighbors may be partly at fault for the number of raccoons in the area because they commonly feed the animals.

While experts say people rarely come under attack by raccoons, incidents involving the animals in the Bay Area are not unheard of.

In 2013, Digg founder Kevin Rose was forced to fight off a violent raccoon that attacked his dog outside his San Francisco home. Rose emerged unscathed but his dog was moderately scratched up from the incident. The encounter was recorded and uploaded to Youtube. The 45-second video has gone viral with over 8 million views.