Had to ELIMINATE a raccoon

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I was cutting grass along my river bank and startled a raccoon and it went on its way About 1 hour later I'm poking around in my barn and here is the coon again all wobbly and confused looking , it kept getting closer and closer to me like 10 feet away .From where I was cutting grass to my barn is a easy 1/2 mile . This is the middle of the day , I hated to do it but I had my 9mm on me anyway , always do , you never know anymore and walked up to him with his sad eyes and put him down . I know it was the right thing to do but as a animal lover it wasn't easy , in fact it ruined my day .
 
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Bummer
frown.gif
 
I had one in my chicken pen last winter. And I was not as quick as you were with the tools I had available. However as a (hobby) farmer I had a duty to my flock. There I stood in 8 inches of new snow in my pajamas, crocs, with my wife holding a 50k lumen flashlight...
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
I had one in my chicken pen last winter. And I was not as quick as you were with the tools I had available. However as a (hobby) farmer I had a duty to my flock. There I stood in 8 inches of new snow in my pajamas, crocs, with my wife holding a 50k lumen flashlight...




My God that had to be a heck of a circus
 
Originally Posted by MParr
Sounds to me that you had an encounter with a rabid raccoon. I hope you didn't touch the carcass.

I put my arm in a garbage bag , grabbed his tail and put him in a hole I dug out in the woods
 
Originally Posted by Kjmack
Originally Posted by MParr
Sounds to me that you had an encounter with a rabid raccoon. I hope you didn't touch the carcass.

I put my arm in a garbage bag , grabbed his tail and put him in a hole I dug out in the woods

Good thinking!

Even the slightest break in the skin (they claim even some pours can be wide enough to let the virus in!) can be deadly.

Glad it didn't catch you off guard, and end up biting you!
 
It is rare for a trash panda to venture out in broad daylight unless it was raised by humans, distempered or rabid.
 
Out during the daylight, wobbly like you describe - it's definitely got something wrong. Ran into one like this years ago and being in the city, we called the police. The park rangers are on the same radio band and heard the call so an officer and ranger showed up. He said it almost certainly had rabies and the only safe thing to do was put it down. He carries a .22 for this reason. Neither him nor the police officer wanted to use their 9mm in the city for a couple different reasons.
 
My guess would be distemper. That is more common than rabies but since Raccoons are a Rabies Vector Species it's possible it could have been rabies.
Symptoms of distemper may include discharge from the nose and eyes, a rough coat of hair, emaciated appearance, and unusual behavior such as disorientation or wandering aimlessly. The animals' symptoms become progressively worse and the disease is usually fatal. Distemper is not the same disease as rabies, although some symptoms are similar. In Michigan, the most common wildlife species to contract rabies are bats, accounting for 67% to 100% of the rabies cases in the state during the period 1990 to 2006. Skunks and red foxes are the next most likely species to contract rabies and there have been 3 cases of the bat-strain rabies in raccoons (1986, 1989, and 1997).
 
Originally Posted by Kjmack
Originally Posted by MParr
Sounds to me that you had an encounter with a rabid raccoon. I hope you didn't touch the carcass.

I put my arm in a garbage bag , grabbed his tail and put him in a hole I dug out in the woods


Maybe call the county first so they can test for and monitor rabies and to alert other people that may have come in contact with it before.
 
Originally Posted by rrwildlife
since Raccoons are a Rabies Vector Species it's possible it could have been rabies.

I would imagine that many state departments of public health or wildlife do a vaccination program for racoons, foxes and coyotes - they do that by dropping from an plane or scattering by hand vaccine "packets" coated in a mix of fishmeal. The intended animal will eat the sachet and get the vaccine given.

https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/newsroom/news/sa_by_date/sa-2017/rabies-oral-vaccine
http://www.raboral.com/about-rabies/raboral-v-rg
 
In the fall, they sometimes get drunk on fermented berries or apples and exhibit some of the motions of a sick raccoon. A shame but we never took the chance.
 
Originally Posted by Inspecktor
I would let local game warden know. They may want to recover and test carcass for rabies.

Contacting the Michigan DNR is like winning the lotto , not likely to happen . Had a beaver issue last fall , was hoping they might relocate him . They never even took 10 seconds to return my calls . Last I heard he was farther up the river a mile or so doing some serious logging .
 
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