Raccoon Encounter... What's Wrong? What Do You Do?

So yesterday riding my bike in the woods at about 5:30pm, come upon a "toddler?" raccoon? He was probably like 12-15lbs., still looked young, but not like a baby young. Teenager maybe. Skinny, fur looked good though.

He saw me, and turned around, but did not run away. He like, slowly walked away at what I can best describe as a drunk person stumbling down the street very slowly. He would stumble over himself and almost fall sideways, but then catch himself, and was going straight down the trail in the direction I was going instead of running off into the woods. I stopped cause I didn't want him to exert himself if he was about to drop out from exhaustion.

Tried to call DNR, but they were closed. I didn't want to grab him or pick him up (obviously) cause who knows. After putting my phone away, I go around the next bend and he was gone, not sure where he went. Continued on my ride.

Not that I have any place to keep or nurse a baby raccoon. I can't have any worms or fleas or ticks inside my townhouse like that, but I felt bad. For future knowledge, what was wrong with him? Malaria? Rabies? Ate poison from somebody's yard? Parasites? I dunno what raccoons are prone to, but I felt real bad. They're such rad animals.

 

Could he have eaten fermented fruit and gotten drunk?

 

Drunk is a good possibility.

 

I'd bet rabies!!!!! Shoot it Jr., shoot it

 

Yeah. Considering “fight like a racoon” is a thing, i’d stay clear of it and call @SpeedyE

 

The little masked bandits pass through my back yard quite often. They don't get to excited about anything. The best I've seen is a slight scamper when charged by a foot stomping and yelling little old man. I don't dislike the little critters. Just trying to keep them out of the pool.

 

Are you seeing them during the day? Do you have animals? Do you have kids? Is your garbage can getting raided?

Be proactive and make sure no one gets bit and use bungies to keep your garbage safe

 

Rabies.

 

Luring you into a trap. Probably had 10 or so of his buddies waiting in the woods off the trail.

Good thing you didn't follow him

 

Distemper'd raccoonie .... Slow horrific death unfortunately

 

+1 for distemper, unfortunately

 

I have a half dozen that frequent my trash daily. All of them are in no hurry to get away from humans.

 

Yeap, they were planning to run a trash bandit gangbang on you.

raccoons love amyl nitrate and butt sex.

 

A "Drunk" acting raccoon is NOT rabies!

Raccoons are not Rabies 'carriers. They are rabies vector (can catch it). They are no different that any other animal (Dog/Cat/Cow/Deer/Human/etc), when they catch it, they die. When it reaches the brain, they shows symptoms, and can transmit. Like any other animal, if it is not in the brain yet, they are not symptomatic, and not shedding the virus.
Being bitten by any possible rabies infected animal is no big deal anymore. Basically a tetanus shot in the arm every week or so, or what i remember from when I had a bat bite last year. It is easy/painless.
Not getting the shot @ the ER, if bitten by any animal, especially wild, is Russian roulette.... a fools' errand. You are on a short time frame to start the shot protocol. Once you show symptoms, it is already in your brain, and you will die the most horrific death imaginal. End of story.

fwiw: Raccoons seen during the day, are mommas searching for food, w/ a liter of cubs hidden somewhere nearby

fwiw: Possums do not catch rabies or any other virus. They are the cleanest animals internally. They are also the softest fur, like a mink. They also will not bite, their gapping mouth/teeth are for show. They wont clamp down, even if you messing w/ them.
I had to rub chicken grease on my hand, to get one I was feeding, to bite me. Deep needle teeth, hurt like a mofo, lol

 

fwiw, from my experience, a distempered raccoon, in confusion & horrible brain pain, will eventually seek out humans for help. I have seen this many many many times. Because I could/would dispatch(kill) "100% gunna die pain/horrible death" animals, they/rescue would always call/send me on distemper cases. I actually had a big female outreach her hands/arms towards me, looking me in the eye, for help, reaching out to me w/ both arms for me to pick her up..... i put a suppressor against the top of her dome. It killed me every time, killed a piece of my soul every single time.
It has been 10 years, and the image/video still pops into my brain every few months, haunted by it. All the poor animals I had to euthanize, haunt me..... haunt me forever. Images I have to shake out of my head

 

This is the one I hand feed.
No Rick, I don’t know how to rotate the pic. Thats just the way the beeb sucks it in.

 

They are all loving Angels once they know you won't hurt them.... Angels, all of them <3

 

Sweet baby!!!

 

They keep calling them trash pandas. But this dude is picky about what he’ll eat. Won’t touch a Cheeto, but loves Pringles.

 

Trash pandas dip up my garden, probably trying to find the big grubs I've also found in the garden. They get sprayed with the hose when I catch them back there. Half the time, they don't really care and just scamper away.



Skunks are way worse diggers and also visit my backyard. They are way more afraid of me thankfully and usually run away when I turn the lights on or open the door.