Blind girl saved friend from rabid raccoon attack

A blind ten-year-old girl bravely fought off a crazed raccoon that attacked her friend as they played in the woods. Irie Campbell, 11, her brother Felix, 5, and her friend Piper Rolfe 10, who is legally blind from a degenerative condition, were playing in the forest behind the Rolfe family home in Kirby, Vermont, when a hissing raccoon attacked them.



The raccoon, assumed to be infected with rabies, lurched at Irie’s face, grabbing her hand. She tried fight it off, but the animal dropped to her leg, biting her on the thigh and before lunging for her hand again. "I was terrified and shocked at the same time," said Irie.



"Piper said 'what is it?’ and I said it was a raccoon and she got a stick and started to poke it and hitting it a little which helped a lot." Terrified Felix frantically searched for a larger stick to scare off the wild animal. "And then I screamed ‘Get away from my sister, raccoon!”, he said.


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The children managed to fight off the raccoon, and Irie was rushed to the hospital. She had been bitten six times on the hand and thigh, and required stitches and treatment for possible rabies exposure. Irie’s father Derek Campbell praised Piper’s quick thinking. "Piper is a little hero. She is a cool kid. I mean Piper is a tough kid. She is one that will just. I mean she will barrel down any run at the ski mountain,” he said.