Theresa Stevens, Maryland Woman, Kicked, Then Infected, By Rabid Deer

WTOP has details of Theresa Stevens' terrible, infectious encounter with what turned out to be a rabid deer outside her house in LaVale, Md. at around 6 a.m. on July 6:

Stevens says the deer rose on its hind legs, knocking her in the cheek with one hoof and on the shoulder with the other, before she pushed it away.

Stevens grabbed her dog, and awakened her husband, Larry, telling him she had been attacked by a deer.

What happened next? Per the Cumberland Times-News, which seems first to have reported this story with a piece published on Monday, Stevens and Larry came back outside, and found the deer lying underneath "their Toyota Corolla," at which point:

“I got it a bucket of water and it stuck its head in it,” Stevens said. “Larry got some video of the deer under the car.”

The deer, later euthanized, turned out to have rabies. Wildlife officials think the deer contracted rabies from a raccoon, and that Stevens -- now undergoing treatment -- picked up the virus when she touched the water, into which the deer had "deposited saliva," according to the Cumberland Times-News. We haven't yet seen an explanation for why Stevens put the deer's head in the water bucket.