The woodland critters are attacking!

**Scubastevie00** · September 8th, 2008, 10:53 PM

So my roomate just ran upstairs and told me there was an adult raccoon in our shed. The shed is about 7 feet from our hot tub where he was hanging out with our buddy and his two female friends. Now it kinda just ran away eventually but whats the appropriate way to deal with:
A. If its foaming at the mouth and near your friends
B. Just bites me in the leg randomly
C. Charges at me

This is Philadelphia, which makes me kinda laugh. I know they're not really dangerous animals as I come from the sticks and have seen lots of em, but I was just curious about the above situations.

**Chazman321** · September 8th, 2008, 11:10 PM

Not dangerous? A raccoon can weigh up to 20-30 pounds, and rip you a new one... On top of that is the risk of rabies... Kill it...

Chaznochancesman321

**fingers80002** · September 8th, 2008, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Chazman321

Not dangerous? A raccoon can weigh up to 20-30 pounds, and rip you a new one... On top of that is the risk of rabies... Kill it...

Chaznochancesman321

Just don't do a head shot. They need the brain to test for rabies. CM shot!!!

just behind the shoulder!

**Arcana71** · September 8th, 2008, 11:36 PM

Originally Posted by fingers80002

Just don't do a head shot. They need the brain to test for rabies. CM shot!!!

He's in Philly... which means he'd probably be arrested for discharging within city limits, animal cruelty, hunting without a license, onanism, brandishing, carrying without a LTCF, sexual harassment, poaching, public drunkeness, interpretive dance, disturbing the peace, conspiracy to commit public nudity and performing plumbing repairs without a bonded contractor.

To which I reply... crossbow.

**XD40coyote** · September 8th, 2008, 11:58 PM

Not sure if it works for the testing, but if you shoot it in the head with a .22 there is still plenty of brain left LOL

Foaming at mouth could actually be distemper. They will at least have a heavy nasal discharge with distemper and may walk in circles. Rabies- they either sit dumb in broad daylight, or are plain aggressive and unafraid, and can possibly be drooling/foaming and walking in circles like with distemper. I once had a raccoon in front of the house just sitting there, and I walked by it not seeing it and it growled at me, then I saw it! It was 11am and it slowly shuffled under some bushes, and was still there when I came back a few minutes later to shoot it. Another time a raccoon charged out at me in a nearby field at 2 pm, but my dog was with me and chased it away. It's no wonder there aren't many raccoons around my immediate area anymore, danged diseases killed them off. Just in time for the price of raccoon pelts to go up! GRRRR

If ANY wild mammal bites you ( other than maybe chipmunks or mice or rats), try to kill or capture the animal and call animal control or the PGC-someone will direct you to the right people. They will get the animal for testing. If you cannot capture/kill the animal, you are just gonna have to get the rabies shots to be on the safe side. The big vector species are: bats, skunks, raccoons, foxes, feral/stray cats, but have also been cases with beavers, otters, mink, coyotes, possibly fishers, and feral/stray dogs. I don't know about squirrels and rabbits and the like, but basically any mammal can get rabies. Possums are generally resistant to it for some reason. Transmission is usually through a bite- the virus is carried in the saliva, as well as brain and spinal tissues. Rabies suppossedly dies within 24 hours in the dead animal's body, but I have seen this debated back and forth, and I just wear gloves , be careful, and have hand sanitizer as well.

Another disease that is common is mange in red foxes, sometimes they will act bizarre when they are in the final stages and dying, or they pick up rabies or distemper or some other disease. Mange is caused by teeny mites burrowing in the skin, causing itching, flaking, sores, infections, hair loss, and weakened immune system. Coyotes also get mange frequently. I have also seen a raccoon with it on its tail.

**ithinkimamedic** · September 9th, 2008, 01:33 AM

If it comes near you wack it with one of these!!!

Available at Swords and Armor

Inversely you could use one of these have a heart traps and then throw it in a river (with a rope attatched so you can get your trap back of course

)

**tdyoung58** · September 9th, 2008, 07:02 AM

best to contact the local animal control people.

let them trap/kill it since PA law says they aren't allowed to relocate trapped animals due to the rabies issue

**Emptymag** · September 9th, 2008, 07:33 AM

You may want to have one of these handy as well...

If that solution is too extreme, I suggest the Haveahart trap as posted above. I use one to remove problem chipmunks.

**RocketFoot** · September 9th, 2008, 07:33 AM

Originally Posted by ithinkimamedic

If it comes near you wack it with one of these!!!

Available at Swords and Armor

Inversely you could use one of these have a heart traps and then throw it in a river (with a rope attatched so you can get your trap back of course )

LOL...that's like the complete opposite of "Have A Heart" traps! I love it! You're gettin' some rep for that!

BTW...here's my suggestion for coon control:

**Robert Kayland** · September 9th, 2008, 08:25 AM

If you want to spend the 50 bucks or so, those have-a-heart traps are gold.

I use one for catching all the low-down, no-good, shed-chewing ground hogs on my property... and the occasional feral cat tearing up garbage.

The ground hogs I kill... (sorry, Punxatawny!)... the cats go to the local shelter.

Occasionally an opossum or raccoon finds its way into the thing, but those I just let go free again.