A 9-month-old baby is in critical condition this morning after being attacked by raccoons in her crib.

Deputies from the Newton County Sheriff's Office were called to a home on Brook Hollow Way off Ga. Highway 11 around 4:30 a.m. after a mother called 911 to report that two raccoons had attacked her baby while she slept in her crib.

According to Newton County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Lt. Tyrone Oliver, the mother woke in the night to the sound of her daughter whimpering.

When she looked, two raccoons were in her daughter's crib, biting the infant. The woman threw the raccoons out of the home and called for help.

When deputies arrived the two raccoons were outside of the home. One of the animals began behaving aggressively toward them and was shot; the two raccoons then ran into the backyard of the home and into some debris.

According to Oliver, heavy equipment was called in to move the debris and deputies found both raccoons - one dead from a gunshot, the other alive. The live raccoon was taken by animal control and transported to Atlanta for testing. According to officials from animal control, results from the tests should be in later today.

The raccoons apparently gained entry into the home by pushing in the side panels of a window air conditioning unit that was in the bedroom where mother and daughter were sleeping.

The baby was transported to Egleston where she remains in critical condition with extensive injuries to her head.

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