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.
