Groundhog Attacks!

[beaglady]

If the dogs had treed the groundhog, and it jumped out of the tree after you removed the dogs, I can see where it would have been more agitated than usual. It was probably full of adrenaline and had shifted from 'flight' mode to 'fight.

 

[ChicknThief]

Ok, I am going to ask the question that I know each and every one of us is silently pondering...



So, exactly HOW much wood did this woodchuck chuck? Inquiring minds want to know... for science.

 

[brahmakid11]

 

[brahmakid11]

Oh, gosh, I know that was quite alarming!

I'll share two embarrassing stories that should make you feel better. One day when I was in my early 20's, alone and single, I glanced over at a table in my office while I was eating lunch. There was a rattlesnake wrapped around my hamster cage. I called the sheriff's office to get someone to kill it

. Now I do my own snake killing.

Many years later I was bitten by a mouse and my husband insisted that I go to the emergency room and get a tetanus shot. I was embarrassed beyond belief.

 

[brahmakid11]

oh yeah and about the groundhog

 

[GardenerGal]

I agree with that, Beaglady. It is possible under that kind of stress that the 'chuck was in "full fight mode." They can be ferocious little rascals.

It's still good to be cautious, so I am glad that the critter will be examined just to be certain that there's no sickness. Unfortunate that it meant euthanizing the 'chuck, but again, better to err on the side of caution!

 

[GardenerGal]

codechicken1 wrote: I had a similiar situation. I asked and was told by an animal control offiecrt that groundhogs do not get rabies. Don't know if he was messing with me.
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That is absolutely NOT true. All mammals -- ALL MAMMALS -- are susceptible to rabies. It is a disease of mammals (mammals are all warm-blooded animals that have fur or hair and feed their babies milk from mammary glands -- hence the name "mammal" ).


Birds, reptiles, amphibians, and all other animal groups do not get rabies.

 

[speckledhen]

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/rabies/article_em.htm
Quote:

 

[Stumpy]

brahmakid11, I love your avatar. I used to have a very similar hamster.

 

[brahmakid11]

thanks