Little Journi Black was asleep on her parent’s bed in their Philadelphia apartment when a raccoon apparently dragged her onto the floor and attacked her Wednesday, her uncle Kenneth McDuffie said.
WARNING: Graphic images below.
A 4-month-old baby girl has been hospitalized after she was attacked by a raccoon that had gotten into her bedroom, according to the child’s family.
Little Journi Black was asleep on her parent’s bed in their Philadelphia apartment when a raccoon apparently dragged her onto the floor and attacked her Wednesday, her uncle, Kenneth McDuffie said.
The child’s mother heard crying coming from the bedroom and found the animal on her baby, he said.
Photos of the baby show that she suffered deep cuts that appear to be claw marks around her face, near her eye and on her forehead.
“Thank God the doctors were able to save her eye and her life,” McDuffie posted on Facebook, sharing images of his severely injured niece.
Journi’s injuries required 64 stitches, McDuffie wrote. She also received rabies shots.
It will take the baby at least a year to fully recover, KYW-TV reported.
Animal control officers have set a trap for the raccoon, which Journi’s mother Ashley Rodgers told KYW-TV she had seen earlier that evening.
Rodgers said the landlord told her he chased the animal out of the building.
“It is his responsibility," Rodgers told the television station. "There’s no reason an animal should have gotten into the house with minors."
Neighbors have reportedly complained that the area is often plagued with raccoons.
The landlord of the property first hung up on KYW-TV when they called for comment. He later told the station to contact his attorney, but declined to provide his lawyer’s name or contact information.
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