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Security Video Captures Digg Founder Tossing Raccoon From SF Home

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Tech mogul Kevin Rose is again generating huge traffic on the Internet, after he posted a video of himself confronting a raccoon on the steps of his San Francisco home.

Rose – the man who founded Digg – posted multiple angles of a video that showed him picking up the animal and throwing it from the staircase of his home early Saturday morning.

"I really was terrified," Rose told KPIX 5. "I came back inside and was really in shock. I was just scared that he was getting shredded up and I just wanted to get rid of that thing, and that was the only thing I could think of at the time."

My dog Toaster was attacked by a raccoon by Kevin Rose on YouTube

In the video, Rose explained this all happened at one in the morning and that the raccoon was attacking his dog, Toaster. He added that he doesn't encourage animal violence.

"And the raccoon was fine. He just jumped over and flopped over and ran out the gate," Rose said.

Toaster is recovering from a couple of bites and scratches from the raccoon attack. Two years ago, Toaster was voted "San Francisco's Cutest Dog" by the readers of 7x7 magazine.

As of Wednesday night, the video – which was posted on July 21st – had been viewed more than 6.5 million times.

When asked about the video going viral, Rose said, "I had no idea it was going to explode this big. More than anything else, I am really worried about the neighborhood."

"I originally posted it to Nextdoor, which is the neighborhood social network, because there have been other raccoon incidents. We need to do something because they're attacking other animals," he said.

A spokesperson from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) told KPIX 5 in a written statement, "It was a crazy move that could have gone very wrong for man, dog, and raccoon, but you can't fault a man for reacting to save his dog. The raccoon and the dog were probably panicking, too. The raccoon took a hard hit, and so we are rooting for him as well."

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and CBS Interactive. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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