RACCOON RABIES
✅️ It is perfectly normal to see all types of wild animals outside during the day, including raccoons.
Raccoons, possums, foxes, and all kinds of healthy wildlife are active throughout the day, especially during frigid cold winter months when they hunker down at night to keep warm. A mother raccoon may be foraging for food to support her young, visiting a garden while the dogs are indoors, teaching her older kits how to hunt, or “graduating” her babies from the birthing den to a training den as they grow older.
However, RABIES IS FATAL so if you suspect you have been scratched, licked (can be transmitted by their saliva going into broken skin), or bitten by a potentially rabid animal, it is imperative that you wash the area thoroughly with soap and water for several minutes, and contact your local health department, physician, and/or emergency room to discuss post-exposure vaccines. A helpful rabies instruction guide can be found here.
❌️ NEVER APPROACH OR HANDLE WILD ANIMALS BEFORE SPEAKING WITH A WILDLIFE REHABILITATOR OR WILDLIFE EXPERT.
Your safety comes first, followed by ensuring your outdoor pets are safety tucked away, then calling your local Wildlife Rehabilitator or wildlife helpline.
• According to the Humane Society website, only one human has ever died from a confirmed case of raccoon-related rabies.
• The CDC website reported only three deaths from “raccoon rabies” over the last decade, but note that:
• One source of exposure is listed as “unknown” (not raccoon confirmed)
• The other two reports are from organ transplant recipients where “†Infection was not identified until 2013, when an organ recipient developed rabies” (they did not confirm which species the organ donor developed rabies from) and they fully state in the notes below the chart that “much information is frequently unavailable retrospectively”.
• The Critter Detective website also expresses that the likelihood of being infected by raccoon rabies is extremely low.
✅️ A Wildlife Rehabilitator or other specially-trained agent can best determine if the symptoms an animal is currently exhibiting are a result of rabies, distemper, poisoining, dehydration, a genetic condition, being hit by a car, or falling from a tree, which all display similar symptoms.
Aircraft to drop rabies vaccines for raccoons across Southwest Virginia
RACCOON ROUNDWORMS / BRAIN WORMS
🦠 Hundreds of raccoon Rehabbers and volunteers nationwide care for thousands of raccoons every single day, and never get “brain worms”.
Dogs have worms.
Cats have worms.
Horses have worms.
Even humans have worms (if you have a strong stomach, click on photo below for a sobering look at undercooked fish/sushi)
✅️ The key is to take precautions. Use gloves, do not let children or pets come into contact with the animal, sanitize all surface areas, and wash all linens after transporting to a Wildlife Rehabilitator.
Yes, roundworms could potentially penetrate your organs. However, the same way you’d never pick up dog feces without a small plastic bag or gloves and wash your hands afterwards, taking the same precautions with raccoons ensures that you, your family, and your pets won’t get infected by raccoon roundworms.
Most cases of roundworm involve children under the age of two who handle anything and everything in the yard, then place their fingers in their mouths.
If you’ve found raccoon droppings, use rubber gloves and a mask to clean it up, bury or burn all feces, keep children and pets away, and disinfect cages and enclosures between using them for other animals (more CDC tips below).
Rehabbers immediately de-worm all raccoons on intake. The top two products Rehabbers use for worms (eyes-opened raccoons only) are:
• Pyrantel Pamoate (Nemex-2) liquid. Dose at 1 cc per 10 lbs (under 6 months old), or 1 cc per 5 lbs (over 6 months old) one week after eyes are opened. Worm on intake, then every three weeks until release.
• Safe-Guard or Panacur (Fendendazole) powder. Dose at 1 mg per 10 lbs. Give for three consecutive days starting the week the eyes are fully opened, repeat at 14 days, again at 21 days, then monthly until release. Fendendazole helps only if parasites are in intestinal stage, but Albendazole (prescription only) has been successful penetrating the tissue stage as well.
