Rhode Island: Crutches and stitches for Coventry woman attacked by fisher cat

RHODE ISLAND -- A Coventry woman says she feared for her life when she was attacked by what she says was a fisher cat.

It happened in her backyard, and now she's warning others in the area to be on the look out in fear the animal may strike again.

“All of a sudden I felt immense pain of my right foot and I just screamed really loud because I was trying to scare it away,” said Honey Marie Meaker, who is still shaken up form the traumatic experience after being attacked by what she calls a vicious animal.

The injury she sustained is so bad she's now on crutches.

“I had no idea what it was, I didn't hear any noise, didn't hear any sounds. I just felt the pain, this excruciating pain,” said Honey Marie.

It happened when she and her 13-year-old daughter took out the trash.

Honey had no clue what attacked her, but her daughter got a better look at it saying it was a fisher cat.

She had to get 10 stitches and multiple rabies shots including two in the legs and arms and a tetanus shot, and now dealing with an infection.

Fishers typically die horrible deaths in states that
still allow cruel and barbaric trapping.

She's afraid the fisher cat will come back and strike again.

“The only thing that went through my mind that it was rabid, why else would it attack me?” said Honey Marie.

She's now sending out a warning to others in the area so they don't end up on crutches and in pain like she is.

 

“As a parent I'm scared this could happen to a small child who can't help themselves,” said Honey Marie.

With a long recovery ahead, Honey has to go to the doctors several more times to make sure she wasn't infected with rabies.

(ABC6 - Oct 11, 2016)

Earlier:

• Massachusetts: Rehoboth boy attacked by likely fisher cat

Rehoboth boy attacked by likely fisher cat

MASSACHUSETTS -- A young boy was taken to the hospital after he was bitten by a wild animal on Monday night near his Rehoboth home.

Police and firefighters were notified shortly after 9 p.m. Monday that a 12-year-old boy who lives on Route 44 was bitten by an animal. Animal control officers in Rehoboth believe that the wild animal may have been a fisher cat or a fox.

“The animal had bitten him and he had tried to get into the house. The boy slammed the door on it,” said Animal Control Officer Jane Foster.  “The animal just wouldn’t let him go. Finally the animal let him go and the mother threw something I think she threw a hammer or something at him to get him away and we didn’t find the animal.”

Since the animal has not been found or tested to check for rabies, rabies shots are the safest response to the bite. According to Foster, the boy had bite marks on his left leg and right hand.

A neighbor told Eyewitness News that wild animals run rampant around rural Rehoboth.

“Usually if you don’t bother them they don’t bother you. But this one seemed to have a problem. It must’ve been either protecting its young or it was rabid,” said Dan Carr.

On Tuesday morning, animal control officers set a large trap near the boy’s home.

(WPRI - July 1, 2014)