New Jersey: Raccoon which mauled six-year-old boy walking to school tests POSITIVE for rabies

NEW JERSEY -- The raccoon that mauled a six-year-old New Jersey boy as he walked to school with his mother has tested positive for rabies, it was confirmed Friday.

Aryan Gavali had to get nine stitches on his face and received a deep cut under his right eye before he was saved by a heroic neighbor during the vicious attack Wednesday morning.

The child was on his way to the 16th Avenue Elementary School with his mother, Monali Gavali, when a large raccoon jumped on his back and and proceeded to bite and scratch him in the face.

Aryan was released from the hospital on Thursday as his family awaited the results.

Pratap Gavaili, the boy's father, said the doctors' are ready to start any necessary vaccinations and that his son is 'eating well and sleeping well'.

'But it's going to take a little bit of time to heal his stitches on his face,' Pratap told The Record.

'It's still swollen and there's a little bit of pain there. He's on antibiotics right now.'

Elmwood Park resident Danny Walls was driving back home to get gas before heading to work when he heard the screams of Aryan's mother.

 

'Within a second, he screamed, "Mommy"', Monali told NBC New York. 'Then I turned around and saw that he was on the ground...something was there, something was on his back.'

Walls saw Monali 'screaming hysterically' for help and then saw the raccoon clawing Aryan's face.

'I've never seen anything like it, the most vicious thing I've ever seen in my life,' he told The Record.

'He was gnawing at his face...like a dog playing with a toy. And he was growling so viciously.'

'At that very moment, I felt that was my son. It was really emotional, and I knew that I had to actually kill that raccoon.'

Walls grabbed a pole, made of fiberglass and aluminum, that he used for work and separated the raccoon from Aryan so he would have enough space to kill it without hurting the boy.

'The raccoon screamed and I gave it more effort,' he told the newspaper. 'But he still wanted to attack the boy. He had so much fight in him.'

 

But Walls, who has a son and stepson, said Aryan was tough too - doing his best to fight back.

Walls visited Aryan at the hospital on Thursday for an emotional reunion where the boys' family expressed their gratitude.

'He was happy to see me, he smiled at me,' Walls said. 'That was good enough for me. That was beautiful. He made me even more emotional than I already am.'

 “He was happy to see me, he smiled at me,” Walls said. “That was good enough for me. That was beautiful. He made me even more emotional than I already am.”

(Daily Mail - Jan 29, 2016)

Earlier:

• New Jersey: Raccoon Attacks 6-Year-Old Walking to School