Let's talk "relocation"

[Folly's place]

Shortgrass, those are awful numbers!!! I thought those poor cats probably had feline distemper, but so many with rabies is very scary. Here in southern Michigan, bats are the most common species with rabies, with raccoon, foxes, and skunks on the watch list, and then there are the unvaccinated cats... I'm glad you acted on this situation. Mary

 

[Farmer Brian]

In the late 80's, early 90's we had an epidemic of raccoon rabies in CT. Since then, we kill'em all, regardless if they LOOK healthy or not. We now have a healthy population of raccoons and skunks. Hardly ever hear of rabid animals here, so I think our state dept of environmental protection has done a good job of handling the situation.
The cats mentioned above ( I didn't read every post) were probably being fed as a cat colony. Cat feeders don't realize that opossums, raccoons and skunks eat from the same bowl as the cats. Most cats are not vaccinated, therefore spreading the disease quickly. Knowing that so many animals were positive, I would catch and euthanize every single one of them in that area if possible.
In CT, as most places, cats are a hot topic. There are no regs on them....except that we can't touch them.

Cats fall under the Dept of Ag....or Animal Control....or who knows. I went to a meeting a couple months ago about rabies awareness and prevention, and the cat conversation was like talking to a revolving door. The Animal Control Officer said "Spay, neuter, release". Well that doesn't solve the rabies issue, the litterbox in the garden issue, the killing of all native birds and small wildlife issue, or the complaint from a customer wanting the cats GONE.

Yes, I deal with wildlife daily. (See website in signature below) I've caught a couple raccoons and skunks that were acting very strangly. They were euthanized but not tested. We only test if there is contact, i.e. bite, scratch, dog fight, etc.
Bats are tested frequently when found inside a living space, to be safe, but in 17 years of having bats tested, I personally have never handled one that came back positive. Bat rabies is a different strain than raccoon rabies, but still rabies.

BTW, opossums as a rule do not get rabies (there are very few exceptions), because their body temp is too low. Last one I heard off getting it was in the midwest a doz or so years ago.

 

[Folly's place]

In Michigan, our DNR will do necropsies and rabies test some critters without a bite history, to monitor the wildlife populations. Brian, have you talked to your DNR about that? Some testing might be interesting. Here, about 5% of tested bats are rabies positive most years. A small but significant number when survival is at stake. There were two rabies positive possums out east somewhere in 2011 or so; it will be on the CDC website. It doesn't hurt to be careful! Mary

 

[Folly's place]

I lied; in 2014 only 3.4% of tested bats were rabies positive in Michigan. I just looked it up. mary

 

[Farmer Brian]

I think bats here remain at less than one percent. I'll check the CDC site. Forgot all about them.

 

[shortgrass]

Well you were within 1.5% Mary, that's impressive lol


Yes, quite bad numbers...we were running on the assumption of feline distemper or FIV, but that much positive leads me to believe that we have a problem. The distemper would have knocked immunity down, sure, but that's 80% of a species that isn't even monitored, with a contagious deadly pathogen... Things like that happen on farms occasionally, but this is by far the worst in my 37 years if memory

We had a very wet spring, massive flooding of our river, then a breach in a dam, them a break in an inlet, after months of record rainfall... I thought the boom in populations of coons were from all the eggs and young that were misplaced, so was actually just preparing for next year when the die off would happen. That's the norm, couple years of good eating then too many and they get sick and start dying, kind of like the cats, ironically...

This site is what perked my eyes and ears when the coyote showed up... Had I not seen SO many threads of people just haphazardly relocating, I would have never checked. Would have went about normal business not worrying about someone's cats.

Ive researched my little eyeballs out, and here in Colorado, if course the EPA and Health Dept have been contacted, but the only choice we have us just like Farmer Brian, kill em all, no testing, just kill them.

I agree. The responsibility lies in landowners' hands here. It IS ILLEGAL to relocate anything other than bunnies and turtles and frogs...and coons less than 2 miles... WHO is dumping all these coons in my backyard less than 2 miles from their OWN problem?

Ugh. Someone dumped a dog with a pup yesterday too... So out I go with a shotgun tonight HOPING they just go away and don't have to kill a puppy; I don't have a choice and I bet the owner thought these nice farm folk could use a dog

 

[shortgrass]

That is very interesting to know that possums don't contract rabies... I always wondered why they weren't monitored..

I like possums a wee bit more now. Not much, just a wee bit.

 

[Folly's place]

I have horses, and possums carry EPM, which one of my horses has had twice. Nothing makes me like the possums here! Mary

 

[shortgrass]

I have horses, and possums carry EPM, which one of my horses has had twice.  Nothing makes me like the possums here!   Mary

Really?!?! We had a champion colt we had to put down because of Encephalitis back when I was younger...never did figure out HOW he got such a rare disease.... Ok so I dint like them so much anymore....they always just seem like big harmless rats, but I had never thought of how many times I catch them chowing cat food right at the front door...

How did all these animals survive before we domesticated and hybridized them to make them "better"?

 

[Folly's place]

Here in Michigan EPM isn't a rare problem, unfortunately. It's easy to prevent EE, WE, VE, and rabies in horses with annual vaccinations, but EPM is a whole different story. Mary