Chicken hurt by raccoon-safe to eat?

[Ninaz89]

We had a raccoon break into our coop and get in a fight with one of our hens.

The neighbors heard the racket and scared the raccoon away.

The hen seemed ok-she was tattered but wasn't showing any other signs of being hurt. We ended up putting her down because she never recovered behaviorally- was behaving so erratically and I live in city limits so am only allowed two hens.

When we were plucking her, I noticed two gashes- not very deep, but she definitely got cut. I am very new to this. They looked more like scratches than bite marks but I'm not sure.

Is it still safe to eat this chicken? I know raccoons sometimes carry undesirable diseases.

Thanks!

 

[Judy]

I wouldn't have handled the chicken. Google raccoon worms; the are very dangerous to humans.

 

[shmccarthy]

I would not under any circumstance eat any chickens attacked by a raccoon. I live in the woods and I have to rid of rabid raccoons all the time. A raccoon attacked my Maine coon cat 2 years ago, it had her in its mouth and my dad saw it and chased it off. We didn't think the coon did any damage after checking the cat but the next day, all her fur fell out around the area and it swelled really badly. We took her to the vet and she wouldn't have made it if she didn't have all her shots. The disease the raccoon had wasn't rabies but it was very dangerous. Raccoons are filthy and carry a lot of diseases transmittable to humans. Unless you want to risk it, I would not eat the meat.

 

[ozarkchicks]

I would not eat this chicken. I think you should dispose of it immediantly. Like others have said raccoons carry nasty diseases. I don't think it would be wise to eat this chicken.

 

[jasmer]

Rabies really isn't much of a concern. Not sure about raccoons, but infected dogs and cats only have about a 30% transmission rate. Furthermore if the chicken carcass has cooled to room temperature or anything above refridgerated/freezing the virus has already died. All the same it isn't worth the risk. Rabies can be transmitted by a scratch if the coon was indeed rabid and licked its claws within a few moments or even minutes of attacking the chicken.

Coons do also carry a variety of parasites that may be far more hardy than the relatively fragile rabies virus, though, so either way, I would dispose of it. I don't know how long the chicken was alive, but as you say "she never recovered behaviorally" I'm assuming she was alive for more than a day or two after the attack, giving ample time for any contagious diseases to permeate her body. It probably isn't safe to eat.

 

[CedarAcres]

I wouldn't eat her. Raccoons are SO dirty and carry so many nasty things. It's just not worth the risk.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I've eaten a hen that was killed by a bobcat (we chased the bobcat off but the hen died moments later) and also a hen that was dying of a prolapse. In both cases, after bleeding her out and going through the butchering process, I asked on this forum whether she was safe to eat. In both cases I received lots of advice like the posts above as well as lots saying the opposite. You will not be eating this chicken raw, so regardless of whether or not raccoons are dirty creatures, you will be cooking it to a temperature that will kill any virus or bacteria it may have been exposed to. You will not be eating the chickens intestines or excrement, so I don't think parasites are a threat to you. Me, I'd go through the butchering process carefully evaluating every step of the way. Have you butchered other chickens? Do you know what it is suppose to look, smell and feel like?

A has been stated in other places in this forum, if you saw the way commercial chicken was butchered and processed you'd probably vomit at the amount of bacteria that it probably has been soaked in. It's why it is so important to cook chicken thoroughly and avoid contaminating other surfaces in your kitchen with chicken juices, but that doesn't keep most folks from eating chicken.

Think about hunting techniques. A hunter shoots a duck and then the hunter's dog fishes it out of the water and carries it back to the hunter in its mouth. OMG! You'd eat a duck that was in a dog's mouth! Sorry, I know I'm going to get a lot of flack for this one, but I HATE wasting the free range, organicly grown chickens I've raised. I will if I find it dead, or I know it was sick, but an injured bird that I dispatched myself shortly after...yeah, I'd probably eat it if upon plucking and butchering and letting it rest in the refridgerator it looked and smelled and felt like it should. I'd then be sure to cook it very thoroughly.

 

[Scott H]

Just don't eat it raw and IMHO you will be fine.

 

[delisha]

I am not writing this to anyone person specifically. It is to everyone who has a chicken injured by another animal. It sounds like you kept her a while after the fight. You found puncture wounds. That means what ever the coon had was in your chickens blood stream. So in turn it means it is through muscle and organs. Hunters catch, kill,shoot, and trap animals all the time. The chance of animals fighting and passing on diseases, bacteria, and all kinds of bugs is part of it. The hunters and trappers have no idea who fought whom when . They eat the meat as long as during processing there are no signs of puncture wounds or signs of disease. Using common sense is part of animal husbandry. If the bird was diseased you can see it in the meat, organs, and tissue surrounding the injury.

 

[drake01]

Im late to the party but in no way should you even consider eating that bird, or any bird attacked by a animal. For the few dollars you might save is it worth it to chance getting sick, not by a long shot. A ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.