A 91-year-old man was attacked by a raccoon. The rabies vaccine was not covered by insurance and cost hundreds of euros

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An elderly Rhode Island man was surprised by a raccoon and attacked him as he walked to his mailbox — and the brutal attack ended up costing him hundreds of dollars, according to a report.

Hal Hamilton, 91, was walking to the mailbox just outside his home in Barrington, about 10 miles southeast of Providence, when a raccoon pounced on him, losing him as he came down his steps, Hamilton told WJAR.

“This is where the raccoon regained his composure, after being kicked off the stairs, and it looked like he was going to have assault number two,” Hamilton said.

Luckily, the mailbox isn’t far from Hamilton’s front door – and he had his cane to defend himself.

“I was able to hit it with my cane and break its head,” Hamilton said, explaining that the creature then ran away.

The 91-year-old contacted the Department of Fish and Wildlife for instructions on what to do, then reported the attack to the Department of Health and other local leaders, according to the report.

However, he didn’t realize until later that the raccoon had actually got its paws on him. Hamilton said he found puncture marks on the bottom of his pants.

“I looked at the other side of the tracksuit bottoms; there are no marks,” he said. “So what I feel is these little claws pulled it up and they pulled clearly on the flesh and gave me a tear.”

Not only did the raccoon tear his pants, but it also managed to hit the back of Hamilton’s leg, leaving two fang marks on the back of his calf.

Hamilton then set out to find a vaccine against rabies. After being turned away from his local urgent care, he chose not to go to the hospital and got vaccinated at CVS.

“I went to CVS, and they had the vaccine ready there,” he told the local news station.

However, the vaccine ultimately cost her more than $400 because it wasn’t covered by her insurance.

“The copay doesn’t support this particular vaccine. It was $440. And I said, ‘I don’t care if you multiply that by five, put it in there,'” Hamilton said.