Two days after attacking a 74-year-old Lakeland woman, a pack of potentially rabid raccoons remains on the loose.
Gretchen Whitted was seriously injured in the attack about 5:30 p.m. Saturday at her home on Waterford Drive. She is in fair condition at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and needs more treatment, Polk County sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Wood said today.
"I don't think she's doing so well right now," Whitted's daughter Lisa Bilik said. "She may need skin grafting. ... I guess below her knee are the worst of the wounds.
"She's got scarring down her face and her chest is covered with scratches and her back is covered with scratches and she's in pretty rough shape," Bilik said.
On Saturday, Whitted heard a noise outside her house and saw five raccoons in her back yard. The animals moved to her front yard and she opened her front door to wave them away. When she did, the raccoons attacked, biting and scratching her. Whitted fell and the animals continued to attack.
Whitted told investigators the mother in the group might have been trying to protect her young.
Investigators won't know whether Whitted was exposed to rabies until they catch the raccoons, but doctors are treating her as if she has been exposed, Wood said.
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