Sick Raccoon in the Yard
The damn Beagle was outside the window tonight in the NC wilderness, howling like a Banshee for 10 minutes. Normally, she howls like a banshee for just 5 minutes.
I got the .38 and the big flashlight and went out there to see what was what.
There was a poor sick raccoon, a " teen age" raccoon about half-grown. I grabbed up the mutt and took her back inside.
When I went back out, the poor little raccoon hadn't moved an inch. Her left eye looked really sick.
One shot between the eyes and it was Auf Wiedersehen.
I put it in two 13 gallon plastic bags, double-bagged it, and stuck in a safe place on the porch. Tomorrow to the dump with the carcass.
Hope the dog didn't get bit.
I got the .38 and the big flashlight and went out there to see what was what.
There was a poor sick raccoon, a " teen age" raccoon about half-grown. I grabbed up the mutt and took her back inside.
When I went back out, the poor little raccoon hadn't moved an inch. Her left eye looked really sick.
One shot between the eyes and it was Auf Wiedersehen.
I put it in two 13 gallon plastic bags, double-bagged it, and stuck in a safe place on the porch. Tomorrow to the dump with the carcass.
Hope the dog didn't get bit.
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call fish and game to come get it for testing. Check the dog over very well. 0 -
Well, at best you've admitted to "taking a furbearer out of season".
I'm not saying the decision was wrong and would have done the same, BUT.0 -
Racoon season opened October 14th here in NC, so it was a legal kill. 0 -
I was glad that I had the opportunity to do the right thing.
One time I was visiting my girlfriend in Atlanta, nice suburban neighborhood around the golf course, bright sunny day.
I saw a teen age kid, and a 50 year old dad out in the yard. There stood a big raccoon, just sitting on his ass looking around.
I asked them what was up, they said they had called animal control and were waiting. Of course this raccoon had a deadly disease and I wanted to shoot it but it is big time illegal to fire a gun there in Atlanta. I knew I could get into more trouble by firing a gun, than a civilian could get in to by being bitten by a rabid animal, after all, you can get rabies shots. Looked like these guys had it under control, the kid had a yard rake in his hand. I told them that for sure the raccoon had a really nasty ailment possibly rabies and they agreed.
So I did not pull the pistol although I wanted to.
Another time, I was at a truck stop in Alabama on I 85 near the Georgia line. Bright sunny morning about 9 am, there next to the gas pumps sat a "teen age" raccoon and he was sitting on his ass looking around, obviously very sick. I called 911 immediately.
About 15 people were standing around gawking at the coon. I told them they better get back because they might get bitten and get rabies, these people were oblivious to the danger. They did not get back.
Of course this poor sick animal needed to be shot, but I didn't have a gun.
I went over and got the big plastic trash can, dumped out the garbage, and put the can upside down over the coon. Case closed, I thought.
I went inside to get my breakfast biscuit. I came out ten minutes later, a stupid ass truck driver had removed the trash can, and the coon was sitting there on the pavement, and the driver was feeding him ham and eggs BY HAND!
And the cops were there, two cops, standing there, wondering what to do.
Of course that poor raccoon needed to get shot but nothing I could do, I went back to my truck, to get away from these morons.
So, last night it was good that I could just shoot the poor coon then and there and put an end to the suffering.0 -
Bandit's. Funny I was behind my home back in the woods yesterday looking at the oak trees to see if deer were eating ... there it was right behind one.. a salmon can. Fresh too, no rust. First thought maybe someone camped in the woods. Then again I ask my Wife if this was the can she bought at the grocery store? Looks like mr. coon took it out of the bag of trash the other day and decided to leave it a few hundred of yards away. 0 -
if a raccoon is so sick that it's lethargic, what tells you it has rabies? 0 -
I've had 3 sick coons in my yard and woods. 2 had rabies, and one had distemper. The first one that had rabies was really weird. He would walk along and drag his face on the grass, then stagger around, repeat several times, then stop and stare at the sun. I was mowing at the time so I had my 44 spl Bulldog with me, and dropped him where he sat. Then I got my shovel and buried him. The other 2 weren't that knarley. 0 -
Some interesting facts from the CDC people....
""From 1960 to 2018, a total of 125 human rabies cases were reported in the United States, with roughly a quarter resulting from dog bites during international travel. Of the infections acquired in the United States, 70% were attributed to bats.""
Bats!!!!0 -
We had a seige of Encephalitis on racoons here (southern WI) about 30 years ago. Always out in the daytime. Walking in circles and very lethargic. Seldom see or hear of rabies. 0 -
"Racoon season opened October 14th here in NC, so it was a legal kill."
At such an early date in warm weather, how can the fur be worth taking?0 -
Don?t most states have a ?Had it coming? law?
Iowa, and Minnesota have laws that state I can kill every raccoon, coyote, groundhog, skunk, oppossum, etc. that are about to do damage, are doing damage, etc. within so many feet/yards of my house.
If you want to find out what?s wrong with them, don?t shoot them in the head, shoot them in upper chest or neck. and contact the nearest college. If the animal in question was trying to, or did attack a human, they tested for free for myself.
If they weren?t actively attacking a human, it say livestock or a pet, they wanted me to pay.
To the OP, that looks like feline distemper in that pic of the coon. Did it smell like it had already been dead for a few days in 100 degree heat?0 -
Bubba Jr. wrote:I've had 3 sick coons in my yard and woods. 2 had rabies, and one had distemper. The first one that had rabies was really weird. He would walk along and drag his face on the grass, then stagger around, repeat several times, then stop and stare at the sun. I was mowing at the time so I had my 44 spl Bulldog with me, and dropped him where he sat. Then I got my shovel and buried him. The other 2 weren't that knarley.
If you buried him, who diagnosed the rabies?
Many many diseases are vectored by bats. Around they world they are intermediate hosts for a bunch of different disease organisms. Among them are Marburg and Ebola viruses, Henipaviruses, Hantaviruses, Rabies virus and Corona viruses.0 -
We live on a dead end street and the property backs onto green acres state park land and wild life preserve - littoral meadow and mixed density scrub forest habitat restoration area...
At the confluence of the Delaware river and the rancocoas creek on the Jersey side north of Philly near Amico Island...
We have some nesting mated pairs of bald eagles and some small predatory cats (lynx or ocelot) and periodically some bears use the Burlington Bristol bridge to cross the river overnight from Pennsylvania - and a heavy aggressive wild turkey population - some small deer...
The beavers are coming back and we even has a wayward whale that got lost following / feasting on fish and made its way up river...
I run the animals back there (primarily the dog) and I have a good relationship with the park rangers and animal control...
Unofficially they know I defend the property and the pets from accessing or invasive or ill wildlife - and will dispatch critters that breach the fence line and end up in the yard (muskrat - raccoon - squirrel - feral house cats - etc) and are supportive of my actions within limits of the law...
They do ask that if am animal appears ill or displays abhorrent behavior that I notify them and save the corpse - they may pick it up and examine or test it...
They have mentioned leaving the brain case intact so they can section the brain or run tests on it.
They also want to know about species that don't normally range in my area or anything obviously out of the ordinary - I have 3 game cameras and they have copied images twice.
I guess I am lucky to deal with reasonable people and not be hassled much more than normal.
I don't use firearms - I use a .22 pellet rifle and so far it's proved adequate.
Just say the offending animal was messing with your pets or causing property damage or acted like it was sick and mostly you will be left alone.
Honestly periodically the feral house cats are the worst with mange and feline aids and tumors and they kill tons of birds and won't be scared off - you have to kill a few each year.
Mike0 -
feral house cats are the worst with mange and feline aids and tumors and they kill tons of birds and won't be scared off - you have to kill a few each year.
I kill everyone I see. There is nothing more destructive than a feral cat, between them, foxes and fire ants they have destroyed the Quail in the South.
I shoot any possum or beaver I see too.0 -
We had one of those here summer before last. He was walking around in the yard in the middle of the day. GROWLED AT ME!
.22 to the chest. (Do not shoot them in the brain. They test the brain for rabies)
Game and Fish folks were uninterested (too busy busting teenagers with weed). :roll:
Wythe County Health Department was interested but had no one to come get him. I gloved-up, double bagged him and delivered.0 -
With coons is most likely distemper but they are a critter more prone to rabies than some. I've shot a few like that through the years along with some skunks. I bury them right away and try to make it deep enough they won't get dug up. 0
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