Reminder about raccoon dangers - Page 1

Today two raccoons were captured and killed by local animal control and cops on my street.  One was wandering the front yard of my neighbor across the street and the other was wandering in our's and our next-door neighbor's backyard today.  Oddly neither raccoon had been noticed before today.
These were the 4th and 5th sick wild raccoons I've personally seen since 2004.
They are both suspected of having distemper, both were clearly sick.  Wobbly, confused, unafraid of people.  With one raccoon the officer walked right up to it, put the catchpole noose around it's neck and pushed it into a carrier, the coon never tried to struggle or escape. 

Fortunately none of our dogs or our neighbors dogs were directly exposed to the coons but since this seems to be a local outbreak we are going to take each of our dogs out on leash only for awhile (instead of letting them run loose in our backyard to play and potty). 

Coons are very dangerous to people and dogs.  A coon with distemper can be very dangerous to a child because to a child it may seem that the coon is friendly when it doesn't run away or even walks up to a child.   Very good way for a child to get badly bitten or mauled by a sick coon. 

Besides potentially transmitting distemper or rabies to dogs (both diseases are fatal to dogs) dogs can also have a potentially fatal allergic reaction to raccoon saliva called coonhound paralysis. 

Coons have less inhibitions than most other wildlife, thus they are more likely to stand their ground and attack a human or dog than most other wildlife.  Raccoons are capable of extreme viciousness and can kill a large dog and maim a human.  One woman in Florida was almost killed by 5 raccoons she tried to shoo from her garbage.  She needed dozens of staples and hundreds of stiches. 

Humans cannot get sick from canine distemper if bitten by a sick raccoon (except it may cause Paget's disease in people) but humans can carry canine distemper and potentially transmit it to dogs.  (though how they do that would be weird). 

If you see a raccoon that acts confused, walks stiffly, moves drunkenly and/or doesn't seem to be afraid of people, especially during daytime then have animal control, police or someone immediately capture and/or kill it.  A dead raccoon is still dangerous because dogs or other wildlife may lick/eat it and become sick too. 

5 years ago a Husky I had decided she would kill a raccoon that was in our yard.  I had never seen it before, anywhere.........but one day she went flying into the back yard and came out with a raccoon......

My last German shepherd who worked cattle on my dairy farm would often corner raccoons in the barn (they lived in the over head hay mow and would make a real mess with their poop).  She would kill them (she was a large dog and fearless).  My other dog (a Heins 57 varieties type) was too small to kill raccoons.. but she had a LOT of hair.  She would corner a raccoon and sit on it (yes.. sit on it) and bark like mad.  the Raccoon could not  bite through her thick hair.  The German Shepherd would come running and kill the coon for her. 

I also had a raccoon in the barn that I found as a days old kit (eyes still closed).  I raised the kit on Esbilac and cat food and named him "Ricky." He lived free in the barn and played with both dogs who knew him (he was vaccinated BTW).  He would ride around on my shoulder while I did chores hanging on to my shirt or jacket collar. 

As he got older he became mostly wild.  However, when the dogs found him in the barn they NEVER forgot him (and he never forgot them).  They would see him and barrel down thru the barn, get to him, slam on the brakes and lick his head while he chirred at them and petted them.  Other raccoons were not so lucky. 

This was back in the early 1990's just before Rabies came through NY (previously rabies cases in all animals was rare).  I would not do this now (hand raise a kit) due to the rabies issue. 

under normal circumstances I wouldn't worry about raccoons and dogs.  Raccoons rarely bite unless cornered or mother protecting young.  Besides a mother protecting her young, the most aggressive raccoons are older, dominant males.  Some males can grow as large as 30-40lbs and they can be really cranky codgers. 

But we have a huge overpopulation of raccoons (like most other common wildlife in Ohio) and because there are so many of them they pass diseases to each other so much more easily.  Distemper is extremely common in raccoons now and if a dog is exposed to a sick raccoon and that dog hasn't been vaccinated (or it's been many years since it was vaccinated) then the dog has a pretty good chance of dying too. 

I know a guy who had 3 coonhound pups in 2009 he was training, he used the raw skins of coons killed on hunts to train his pups with.  Apparently someone forgot to vaccinate those pups and all 3 died from distemper. 

It's a good thing not to forget the dangers of rabies with raccoons. The symptoms might look pretty similar to distemper, but, of course, distemper is harmless to humans and rabies definitely isn't!

When I worked for a vet, we had a beagle come in that had been bitten by a fox. He had never been vaccinated. The vet let him go home, but told the owners to quarantine him.

He came back a week or so later. He was panting, drooling, and having trouble with his co-ordination. The vet put gloves on to examne him, but he reared up and scratched the vet's bare arm.

We quarantined him until the vet could get around to euthanizing him. He sent the remains off to Guelph for testing, and they came back positive for rabies.

Seventeen people, including the vet, had to get rabies shots. So much for 'home quarantine!'

I just don't understand why someone would NOT vaccinate their dog for rabies!


Or distemper, for that matter... :( 

raccoons run with the fear of god in them out of my yard soon as i open the door to let my dog out to use the bathroom they are scared as hell of her, so is the fishers and coyote, after a few close calls they do not go near the fence anymore.  I do like raccoons they are our countries NATIVE wildlife and we should respect them.

I've had a few 'friendly' coons this year, and so has my dad.  The only noticeable symptom was gooey eyes.  One crawled up my leg, and showed absolutely no signs of aggression or fear to me or the dogs.  Unfortunately (yes) my dogs killed it.  Nothing here became sick.  I have a few pictures of it but for some reason my computer is saying the file is corrupt.

 Sometimes people find them as babies, raise them so they have no fear of humans (me included) then when they leave and roam others think they are friendly because they are sick, and kill them which is too bad.
   Having raised quite a few since I was a kid, I really like them.  They are the cutest funniest little creatures with a lot of play drive and the females can be EXTREMELY affectionate.  I have some dogs now that love to kill them, do, and have quite a few. 

  Coons are rarely as dangerous  as the OP describes.  I would hate for everyone to kill every coon they see just out of fear, something like what is happening to the poor fox.  Yes, some coons may get rabies, but the majority don't.  So, please use some common sense.

Exactly, Red Sable!

My husband had a 30-year war wih the local raccoon population in Toronto. They were always trying to get into the garbage cans for the sixplex apartment building he owned. He finally had to put bungee cords on the lids of the cans. This was in addition to having two plastic handles that rotated up and locked the lids in place!

One night, he was out riding his bike, and a momma coon was leading her brood of kits across the road in front of him. He stopped his bike to let them pass. When momma saw him, she came and stood in front of the bike, and hissed at him, until all her little ones were safely across.

They are very smart animals, but normally will run from humans, unless protecting their young, or humans have been feeding them.

My main reason for pressing the dangers of raccoons is because so many of them get distemper nowadays (at least in Ohio they do) and distemper can so easily kill dogs (rabies too of course)

When I saw the one of the sick raccoons I went around to tell my neighbors to keep their dogs inside (after calling animal control).  One of my neighbors who has 2 small dogs said she had been watching the one coon all day and thought it was merely injured and she felt sorry for it.  She had no idea that it's wobbly circling and stiff gait was from disease, not injury.  The second raccoon was spotted soon after the first one because it fell out of a pine tree about 5 minutes before animal control and cops arrived. 

I've got no problem with healthy raccoons, they are wonderful creatures (as long as they stay out of my trash and stuff, lol).  It's the sick ones I'm worried about.  Plenty of people are stupid and don't vaccinate puppies correctly.  Many dogs are still dying from distemper (and pups from parvo).

BTW, raccoon, skunk, opposum, fox and coyote populations are all growing rapidly here in central Ohio.  I know where one family of red fox makes it's home.  Coyotes have become so numerous here they've been killing a lot of livestock.  Mink and beaver are making a comeback too.  I've seen all of these animals here in central Ohio, it's pretty amazing.  I used to think I'd only see most of these animals in wild places like the appalachian mountains or northern Michigan.  Can't walk city streets anymore without tripping over a raccoon, skunk or possum (ok, slight exaggeration, lol)

@euroshepherd

opposum don't carry rabies tho