A rabid raccoon...?

Possibly not, but I wasn't going to take any chances. The other day with the little lummox I had found a good walking trail from the playground at the top of the reservoir dam down to the new bridge over the creek for the Wilkes Greenway. I decided to go back and walk along the new portion of the Greenway by myself yesterday. As I started down the road I saw a strange looking animal loping up the side of the road towards me. It kept coming and I assumed it was a dog - but as it got closer I realized it was a raccoon.

Now raccoons are wild creatures and are supposed to be afraid of humans, and this one didn't seem to mind heading straight into me at all. And one of the signs of a rabid animal is that they lose their fear of humans.

I turned aside and walked away at right angels as fast as I could. The raccoon sat down and watched me for a bit, then picked himself up and loped on down the road.