Wild Animal Safety Part Three: Raccoons, Foxes and other 'Varmints'

Raccoons are the most common cause of animal complaints in the Mansfield Police log this year. Many citizens see one and immediately call  Mansfield Animal Control Officer Jeff Collins, because if it shows the slightest sign of ailment, they immediately think rabies.

"In the past four to five years I've seen an upswing in raccoon sickness," Collins said. "Rabies is the biggest one, mainly because it's fatal in humans if untreated, but there are a host of other diseases that could be affecting them."

Many of these other diseases are non-communicable to humans or are nonfatal, but since raccoons are the animal kingdom's poster child for rabies, they seem to get a bad rap. Collins said that there are usually about 15 raccoon calls a summer, but this year that average has already been surpassed.

"Eight out of ten times it's usually a younger raccoon figuring out the best times to hunt," he said.

Collins said that raccoons are most active during dusk and night time. Usually, when a raccoon or  some other small nocturnal animal, is out looking for food during the day, the animal is injured and cannot find enough food during its regular active hours, and ventures out into the light.

Common infections of raccoons include but are not necessarily limited to canine distemper, raccoon parvoviralenteritis, infectious canine hepatitis, and pseudorabies. Because they are an animal that has grown generally accustomed to humans, they become a big vector for diseases. This is generally true in heavily populated areas, where diseases have thousands of other ways to infect the animal. 

If you are bitten by a wild animal, even something as small as a chipmunk or mouse, you should seek medical attention right away. While it is not likely that the animal had rabies or some other harmful disease, it is not something best left to chance.

Collins said that raccoons and other "varmint" animals make up the majority of his calls. He said that, regardless of how the animal looks, whether it looks injured or sick, the best thing to do is to get away from the animal and call local authorities. Use common sense.