Saw a sick raccoon this evening...

[OhZark Biddies]

On the way home about an hour before sunset, I came upon a sick raccoon standing on the edge of the road, it was skinny, and unaware of it's surroundings (didn't react to me stopping the truck 10 ft from it) and it seemed unsteady on it's feet.

I put it out of it's misery, in hopes that it wouldn't spread it's disease... rabies? distemper?

I just thought I'd remind everyone to be on the look out for sickly or odd behavior as we go through the "dog days" of summer.

 

[lazy gardener]

Thank you for the timely reminder. You might want to call your local ACO to have the body picked up. Leaving it could allow disease to spread. We all immediately think RABIES, but distemper is also possible. Not so much of an issue as far as danger to humans, but still an issue with a diseased carcass.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Thank you for the timely reminder. You might want to call your local ACO to have the body picked up. Leaving it could allow disease to spread. We all immediately think RABIES, but distemper is also possible. Not so much of an issue as far as danger to humans, but still an issue with a diseased carcass.

Indeed, I am online right now trying to figure out who to report it to... this was out in the sticks so there isn't really a city Animal Control Officer to call... thankfully in this particular location pets getting exposed aren't going to be an issue...or at least that would be unlikely.

I was trying to figure out how long a carcass will be contagious... any thoughts on that?

 

[Mimi13]

Incapacitated as much as you say, with rabies I believe the raccoon would have known you were present and tried to attack you. And with distemper I would expect to see frothing around the mouth. My hopes for everyone’s sake would be that the coon was grazed by a vehicle which left it staggering around and unaware of its surroundings.

 

[lazy gardener]

Not a clue. But any mammalian vertebrate who is exposed to body fluids would be at risk, especially if the coon was rabid. I do hope you did not get any "spatters".

 

[lazy gardener]

Incapacitated as much as you say, with rabies I believe the raccoon would have known you were present and tried to attack you. And with distemper I would expect to see frothing around the mouth. My hopes for everyone’s sake would be that the coon was grazed by a vehicle which left it staggering around and unaware of its surroundings.

This is a fallacy that a rabid animal will always try to attack. They can also act just as this one did, or in the early stages, be quite asymptomatic, yet contagious. This is why it's so very important to not handle any wild animals.

 

[lazy gardener]

@OhZark Biddies : You might call the town or county PD/sheriff

 

[sourland]

Rabies can exhibit as a 'dumb' form as well as an aggressive form. Distemper is similar in appearance to the 'dumb' form of rabies, Scary stuff indeed. Rabies is endemic here with occasional epidemic outbreaks. I have encountered it in coons, skunks, woodchucks and even in a fawn. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors and always carry a heavy club.

 

[llombardo]

Many years ago I took in a sick raccoon. I knew it wasn't going to make it. I was at the forest preserves watching the deer and he crawled under my car. Wouldn't come out for nothing. A nice man helped me. We originally put him in between trees, so he was out of the way. I got all the way back to my car and couldn't get his sad face out of my head. I grabbed my sons book bag and went back and got him. Never once did he try to attack, bite, hiss. Heck he may have been a pet that someone dumped, that's how docile he was. For 5 days he ate the best foods and got the best care possible. He would crawl in my lap and gently take the food. I always wore gloves and had one set of clothes that I used when caring for him, then I would make sure I disinfected myself. He passed away in a safe place and in peace. I believe it was probably distemper, but there was no definitive signs like foaming, so he might have just been old too.

Now I'm in the battle of a lifetime with raccoons and the safety of my chickens. One of them is huge. I spoke to my neighbor and he has been shooting the big one with a pellet gun to scare it off. He said it stands on its hind legs to look around and it's about thigh high. I just saw it in the tree and knew it was a big one. We have less coyotes now, so more raccoons.

 

[RWise]

Another thought, one of my nearby neighbors told me he had a rat issue, and sat out "One bite II" rat bars. These vanished and he sat out more, a few days later he finds a dead coon in his yard, and no more rat bait gone. It could have been poisoned,,,,
Still one needs to be aware of the threats out there.