WASHINGTON – The last thing any homeowner would expect while taking out the recycling is a wild animal attack. But one D.C. resident got just that Sunday afternoon in the Shepherd Park neighborhood.

A raccoon attacked homeowner Lamar Revis Sunday afternoon near Primerose Road and NW 16th Street.

“I saw the raccoon walking toward me, and I looked away, and then when I looked back, he was charging me,” Revis says.

Revis fended off the raccoon with the recycling bin, and the animal ran away. Revis was not injured.

Most animals will run away if you yell at them, and this raccoon may have been sick, says John Hadidian, senior scientist with the Wildlife Program at the Humane Society of the United States.

Revis contacted animal control after the attack, and officers are looking for the raccoon.

Randi Martin contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter.