Police Repeatedly Run Over Rabid Raccoon in Upstate New York

so if you need a raccoon ran over or your head kicked in call a cop

if you need some life saving not so much

a reply to: Guyfriday

f anyone has a better idea as to how to handle the situation, I'd like to hear it, since I have to deal with these varmints yearly.

Its called animal control.

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: eNumbra

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: notsure1

Explain to me again why we need to police?

To save us from the raccoon menace.

"The Raccoon Menace" is the working title to the next Star Wars movie.

Yes yes, followed by :
The Raccoon Wars
Rockets Revenge
A New Groot
The Acorn Strikes Back
Return of Rocket
and so one and so forth (darn you Disney for lumping Guardians of the Galaxy in with Star Wars! Keep your franchises separate)

a reply to: notsure1


In my area it's called "take care of it yourself, or the sheriff will just do the same thing" Animal control takes hours to get out here, and by then you could have a bit Kid, or worse someone's dog could get infected and spread rabies around the neighborhood infecting more then just a Kid.

Honestly, this does seem rediculous! When I was only 15 years old, I was confronted by a rabid woodchuck! It was scary and freakily insane obviously. I grabbed a nearby shovel and banged its head. It came back up after me even more agressively, I hit it two more times in its hard head with a shovel and grabbed a wooden crate to cover it. I kept watch and continually called to my family to come and assist me. My step father quickly surveyed that indeed it was rabid and grabbed his pistol. We lifted the crate and he shot it dead with one bullet! No car needed. For Pete's sake I was a child and could contain a rabid woodchuck!

a reply to: CynConcepts


many kids these days would be tramatised by the expeariance since they couldn't tweet about it. It saddens me when I think of the crap I had to do as a kid (duck and cover, how to wear a gas mask, and other great school activities) and then I see kids now days panicing because they had to walk across the street without parental supervision.

originally posted by: Guyfriday

originally posted by: DBCowboy

originally posted by: eNumbra

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: notsure1

Explain to me again why we need to police?

To save us from the raccoon menace.

"The Raccoon Menace" is the working title to the next Star Wars movie.

Yes yes, followed by :
The Raccoon Wars
Rockets Revenge
A New Groot
The Acorn Strikes Back
Return of Rocket
and so one and so forth (darn you Disney for lumping Guardians of the Galaxy in with Star Wars! Keep your franchises separate)

I'm Not a Dog!!

originally posted by: Guyfriday
I see no issues with this. Like it was pointed out above, the police couldn't have shot it since a stray bullet could have been worse for anyone hit by it, the blood spray going airborne could have been worse, and in the end someone would have cried foul about the police shooting the diseased critter.

If anyone has a better idea as to how to handle the situation, I'd like to hear it, since I have to deal with these varmints yearly. Sometimes rabid, sometime not. I don't know until they're dead and checked out by a quailed Vet.

Go to a farm and tractor store and buy yourself a live cage. It is easy to catch coons. A rabid animal will have its eyes cock eyed sometimes rolling in appearance ...not straight...over active saliva is very frothy around its mouth. If unsure, call animal control and they will retrieve said animal and either exterminate or relocate it for you.

Go get em!

Edit add: baby coons are adorably sweet...purr like little kittens. I had to learn early that they can be a menace to a farmers fruit market when full grown.

a reply to: burgerbuddy


But But But, Scooby Snacks.

***THIS LOWER PART HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING***

Now that I think of it, "Scooby Snacks" is going to be my new go to phrase for dealing with Political discourse that goes off course.

originally posted by: Guyfriday
a reply to: burgerbuddy


But But But, Scooby Snacks.

***THIS LOWER PART HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING***

Now that I think of it, "Scooby Snacks" is going to be my new go to phrase for dealing with Political discourse that goes off course.

SCROMIT.

This is sick, I hope they get sued over and over again by animal activist groups. So running over rabid things in a car is protocol huh? why aren't we doing this to the cops then? they're rabid, right? obviously they are, look at'em, who does this?

a reply to: CynConcepts

If it's eyes are all cock-eyed how does it get in the cage?

a reply to: silo13


Food, put food in the cage and they will follow.

What they didn't have flame thrower in the car?

a reply to: Guyfriday

Edit your post to 'Put WATER' in the cage... We all know about HYDROPHOBIA...

Animals with rabies are more concerned with water than food.

Added note:

I had a friend bring me a raccoon baby that was full of porky pine quills, she begged me to 'save it'...
This was like at 3:30 in the morning. (That's my disclaimer for being stupid).
After I got nearly all the quills out I though?
Welllll, shat a duck, what IS a baby raccoon doing fighting with a porky pine anyway????????
I called Fish and Game to come take the wee thing (that was now convulsing and slathering and screaming and snapping) to the State lab who was waiting for it - to check for rabies.
The asshat F&G dude?
Shot it in the head.
You need it alive and the head intact to check for the big 'R'.
Guess who had to take the vaccinations?
Me.
At least they're not given in the belly anymore.

a reply to: Guyfriday

You've never dealt with a rabid critter, have you?

A rabid animal will not follow food. It does not care about food. It is insane, literally insane. It will travel in a more or less straight line and attack anything it sees. A rabid rabbit will attack a hunting dog (and eventually kill it from a single bite). Rabies is spread through saliva and blood; one bite and you're infected. The disease is difficult and painful to the patient to treat, and always fatal if not treated. There is no treatment for animals as far as I know; only preventative shots. The only way to handle a rabid animal is to kill it, as quickly and from as far a distance as possible. Shooting it will spray blood, which is infectious... sometimes it is necessary, but the splatter is still a concern. The car was a much better alternative. It killed the animal and kept the bodily fluids in one small area. Multiple cars was a good precaution... had the animal been only hurt badly and someone approached it, it could have bit them as it was dying and infected them.

If this happened during the daytime, it is likely the coon was rabid. Raccoons are typically nighttime scavengers and prefer to sleep during the day. If it was traveling straight, foaming at the mouth, during the daytime, it was rabid. You kill rabid animals. Period. ASAP. Rabies is simply nothing to play with.

The cops did right here.

TheRedneck

originally posted by: dashen
what else were they supposed to do?
gunfire clearly would have been useless against it

If they aim with a gun, like they aim with their cars, I'm very glad that they didn't shoot AT the raccoon. There would be dead shoppers on the parking lot!

That Raccoon was not rabid. I used to hunt them for food. (Delicious barbequed!) He/she is just trying to get across the open lot, and bored police have fun trying to kill it.

Maybe they need some illegal alien criminals up that way, to give em something to do?

a reply to: silo13

a reply to: TheRedneck


Currently, I just pop them with the gun, it's enough to put them down, but not so big as to make a bleachy mess. Then I toss them in a bag and wait till AC shows up to take the body/ies. The cage would be useful in rooting out the more healthier ones, but yep a rabies critter just has to be put down and the neighborhood notified that a rabies so-and-so was killed in the neighborhood.

a reply to: silo13

At least they're not given in the belly anymore.

Well, that's good news.

I thought they were still given in the belly... a series of 7 shots in the belly, if memory serves. Luckily,I have never allowed a rabid animal close enough to me to be in any danger. If it slobbers or comes straight at me, it dies. Quickly.

TheRedneck

Can't you just taze it til it's little heart gives out?

Surely, that's quicker than a 15 minute gauntlet run.