Living out in the country this is a very real possibility on a daily basis. However, I have a very large rottweiler. Rabies or not, that raccoon would have been dead in about 3 seconds of attacking my dog. My dog has torn up plenty of small animals that tried to mess with it at night. Rabies shot, ftw?
I don't think he did anything wrong at all. He saw an animal attacking his dog and reacted like a concerned owner. To a lot of us dog owners, our dogs are like our children. We would do anything to protect them.
Screw the PETA fags on this one. That thing was attacking his beloved dog and he dealt with it like a champ.