A Rochester man who was working in his yard says a vicious raccoon latched onto his leg so he choked the animal, then stabbed it with pruning shears before it fled.

John Taylor, of Cross Road, was in his yard Saturday morning around 7:30 a.m. when he heard scratching sounds near a tent used to house his family’s boat in winter.

The animal, which he estimated to be about 17 inches in length, sprinted toward him when he went to investigate the noise.

“As soon I saw the raccoon I had one thought: Run,” he said. Taylor took one step before the animal bit into his thigh. “I had no time at all to react.”

He yelled for his father-in-law who was in the house at the time. Then he choked the animal thinking it would let go.

When it didn’t, Taylor stabbed it a few times with a pair of pruning shears he had in hand before the attack. For Taylor, fighting the raccoon was surreal. “I thought this can’t be happening,” he said.

The raccoon let go and Taylor threw it towards the woods. He said the incident probably lasted no more than two minutes.

Immediately after the attack he notified Rochester Police. Police Chief Paul Magee said the animal had not been located. He urged residents to keep a safe distance from wild animals.

Taylor said police told him the raccoon also attacked a cat near Morse Court in Rochester moments after it ran from his property.

After notifying police, Taylor went to Tobey Hospital in Wareham and received rabies shots as a precaution. Taylor said he had several scratches on his thigh, but did not require stitches.

Taylor said the raccoon didn’t exhibit typical rabies symptoms. The animal was not foaming at the mouth or moving “drunkenly.”  Taylor still has to receive three more treatments of the rabies vaccination.

On Monday, he took a half-day off from work to recuperate. “It was an interesting experience. To say the least,” Taylor said.