rabid racoon in my back yard!
Dogs found it Sat. morning and chased it up a tree in the back. We gather dogs up and bring inside. Call Animal Control and explain situation. As I am on the phone I say "well dogs are now inside but the 'coon looks rather sick, just stumbled off the back fence" They don't seem too concerned.. :rolleyes: 3 hrs later the coon is back wobbley down the back yard with FIVE DOGS in the back yard. Coon is either reeeeally stupid or sick/rabid. Too late. Dog grab the coon. Can't tell animal control about the particulars or it's a 6 mo. quaranteen, but they have current shots!! What a dilema. Now son (who ended up having to kill the coon by stabbing it :( but it was coming towards me with no fright at all.).. I had pup Lucy by the collar.. The danger is the slobber or spit by the coon. Blood is not contageous but the saliva is. So now we two leggers have to call the doc and probably go through the shots thing. :( Took dogs to their doc and he gave them boosters "just in case". Doc said he would try to keep it "under the wire", which means we can try to keep this not an EPISODE. We did tell all our neighbors. I am sooo confused over the right thing to do :( Please don't report me to the Feds... let us deal with this. Our dogs don't run out of the fence. Please?
Another aspect to consider....
It is well that the rabid animal was dispatched to a better place BUT rabies doesn't 'just happen' to an animal. It is quite possible that this is just the first notice to humans that rabies may be reaching epidemic proportions in the wild...and that means trouble for humans and pets.
Where do you suppose the raccoon got the rabies? Any warm blooded animal (including humans) can carry the disease and pass it on. To protect everyone, the source of this should be investigated in the local area and then rooted out as much as possible.
Bats are a frequent carrier and you do NOT have to be bitten to be infected. Simply going into an attic (for example) where rabid bats have been and breathing in the dust from their droppings can be deadly. This being so, the search should NOT be done by uninformed, improperly prepared, individuals.
I know whereof I speak...we found a rabid bat on our living room carpet one morning. It was promptly dispatched and taken to the health department. I had had a 'dream' about something trying to bite me during the night so I went through a thorough magnifying glass inspection stem to stern. Found nothing. I opted to wait (because of allergies) for 3 weeks. Pure hell!
We discovered the bats had invaded our attic. We threw mothballs up there to drive them out and stood outside firing away as they exited. Then we closed up every vent, hole, crack, etc we could find. No more bats in the attic.
I do wish you all the best but the job isn't done until the source of the infection is isolated as much as possible. Your health department should be following up to make sure innocent others were not inadvertently infected before your situation occurred.
You'll be in my prayers.
Callie
