A 75-year-old Virginia woman choked a raccoon to death after the rabid animal bit her on the leg . Cas Overton , of Henrico County near Richmond , was walking through the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and looking at birds when she was confronted with the aggressive mammal . She tried to shake it off unsuccessfully , and strangled the animal around the neck for five minutes after realizing how violent it was . Scroll down for video . Cas Overton , 75 , of Henrico County , Virginia , was birdwatching when she was attacked by a rapid raccoon . 'You know self-preservation kicks in , and I guess a primitive part of my brain just went into operation and that was it , ' she told the Richmond Times Dispatch . 'If I ran , it would be faster than I would and would just tear me to pieces , ' Ms Overton , who was a Tai Chi instructor for 40 years , said . The septuagenarian was taken to the hospital after the Saturday incident on one of the gardens ' backroads , and has received multiple preventative vaccines for rabies since . Tests later confirmed that the animal carried the disease , according to ABC8 . The elderly woman spent five minutes choking the raccoon to death before being she was taken from Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens to the hospital and given preventative rabies vaccines . Raccoons are the leading carrier of rabies in the eastern United States , with roughly 35 per cent of all animal rabies cases occurring in the species ( file photo ) Ms Overton said it 'took a while ' to figure out that she had killed her attacker , and that she is an animal lover who has been walking in the gardens for 30 years . The Humane Society says that raccoons suffer most from rabies in the eastern US , making up more than a third of all animals rabies cases . Both raccoons and skunks , another common rabies carrier , are nocturnal . Activity during the day is an abnormal behavior that could indicate the presence of the disease . Pets such as dogs are particularly vulnerable to rabies , which is a nervous system disease only transmitted by saliva . Animal owners are urged to vaccinate their pets to stop the spread of the disease in the event of a wild animal attack . Ms Overton was walking on a backroad in the gardens , which she has visited for 30 years , when she felt that the raccoon was at her leg .
Tai Chi of Henrico County was bitten by animal while birdwatching . She tried to shake it off and was afraid it would catch her if she ran away . Former Cas Overton instructor said it 'took a while ' to realize she killed attacker .