Al2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 31,1980
DOVER, Del. That cute
little raccoon kit you find
along the roadside or up a
chimney may look awfully
cuddly, but think twice
before you decide to “rescue
it.” Wild animals make
unreliable, destructive and
potentially dangerous pets.
For one thing, they may be
incubating rabies.
Considering this hazard
along, University of
Delaware small animal
specialist Paul Meckley
thinks it’s crazy to try to
keep raccoons, squirrels,
skunks and other wild
animals as housepets. He
says it’s equally unwise to
try to raise the exotic
animals sold in pet stores.
Besides the very real
possibility that some of them
may be carrying the deadly
rabies virus, it’s also a cruel
practice. “Few people un
derstand their needs,” he
explains.
“In many cases, ‘rescuing’
a wild animal merely means
forcing it to endure a
lingering, possibly painful
death. Left to nature, it
might either be cared for by
its mother, or be much more
quipkly dispatched by some
predator.
Even apparently healthy
animals can be carriers of
rabies, says Meckley. For
this reason, the Delaware
Veterinary Medical
Association recently came
out in favor of banning the
sale of exotic pets in
Delaware. Several neigh
boring states already have
such laws.
One monkey incubated the
disease for 12 months before
showing rabies symptoms. A
baby raccoon raised as a
family pet in South Carolina
last year incubated rabies
for nine months before
showing signs of illness,
including sudden
aggressiveness that resulted
m bites and scratches of
Forget about ‘rescuing 9 wild
family members and
friends. A total of 25 people
required expensive,
prolonged treatment
because of exposure to that
single animal. They’re lucky
to be alive.
Rabies isn’t a threat to be
taken lightly. Until a few
years ago, there were no
recorded survivals from
human rabies. Two years
ago, an Elkton, Md., woman
died after exposure to a
rabid bat in spite of prompt'
efforts to save her life.
The standard treatment
for people exposed to a rabid
animal is injection of a
series of 21 shots into the
abdomen with a material
that’s now produced from
duck embryos. The treat
ment is very painful and can
cause a hyperimmune
reaction and death. For this
reason treatment is always
given in the presence of
emergency resuscitation
equipment.
In the case of light ex
posure, or when there’s no
visible rabid reaction m the
patient after treatment has
begun, the entire series of
shots may not be ad
ministered.
The virus causing rabies
doesn’t enter the blood
stream, but travels along
nerve fibers. Also known as
“hydrophobia,” the disease
causes paralysis of face and
throat muscles of human
victims so that they can’t
swallow.
Because of the danger of
rabies-especially in skunks
and raccoons-Meckley says
it’s usually better to let
nature take care of its own.
Many times the mother is
nearby and will return to her
baby if she has a chance.
If you known she’s dead,
find out why she died. This
may involve having an
autopsy performed at a state
Department of Agriculture’s
Veterinary Diagnostic
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Laboratory. The only way to
determine whether an
animal is carrying rabies is
by examining its brain. So if
you find one suspected of
rabies, drop either it or its
head off at any of the state
health units.
Besides the disease
potential, Meckley says
there are other arguments
against trying to keep exotic
or wild animals as
housepets. Some of the
exotic ones sold in pet stores
are endangered species.
Some may also need a
specialist to diagnose and
treat them, should they
become sick.
What’s more, most people
haven’t the foggiest idea of
what kind of care and
feeding any of these
animals need.
Managing director of the
Delaware SPCA, Patricia
Peterson, agrees.
“Malnutrition is
widespread among the
exotic and wild animals
people try to raise,” she
says.
“In the wild these
creatures bow instinctively
how to balance their own
diet. They don’t have a
chance to do that when all
you’re feeding them is what
you think they’ll eat.”
Most people are so inex
perienced in caring for wild
animals that well over 80
percent of those they try to
help die of aspiration
pneumonia from forced
feeding, reports Meckley.
This is a terrible, lingering
death. The baby animal
doesn’t swallow fast enough,
or can’t swallow, so the food
forced into its mouth or beak
enters the lungs. By con
trast, most deaths in nature
are mercifully fast.
A baby raccoon looks so
cute and cuddly that it’s
hard to remember what it
will become. A full grown
animal weighs 25 to 30
pounds and is extremely
hard to control. By then,
you’ve got a problem getting
rid of it.
You can’t return it to the
wild-it doesnt’ know how to
survive. If it does manage, it
mayJbecqme a neighborhood
pest until disposed of by
some irate homeowner.
“A raccoon can live 10 to
15 years,” says the vet. “Are
Retail promotion urged
to boost meat
PARK RIDGE, El. -
Farm Bureau has called on
the nation’s food retailers to
use in-store promotions
featuring red meats and
poultry in recognition of
plentiful supplies and
reduced farm prices.
In a mailgram to major
retailers of the nation,
Robert B. Delano, president
of the American Farm
Bureau Federation, asked
food retailers to “feature
beef, pork and poultry as
inflation fighters for con
sumers ”
Delano urged retailers to
quickly reflect price changes
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animals
you willing to undertake
responsibility for it that
long?”
There are occasional
success stones about wild
animals that have been
taken in as pets. But these
cases are rare. The greatest
percentage will die as in
fants or young. The next
largest percentage will be
given away from someone
at the meat counter “When
prices for live animals
decline or increase at the
farm level.”
Noting that production
costs for beef, pork and
poultry producers far exceed
current prices received at
the farm or ranch, Delano
attributed the cost-price
squeeze on producers to
more than ample total
supplies and “a weakening
general economy and in
creased costs of production
caused by double digit in
flation.”
Saying that the price of red
meat and poultry m the store
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else to care for. Chances are,
that will be a temporary
home, too.
So the next time you find a
wild creature that looks
injured or abandoned, think
twice before you try to ad6pt
it. It may be better off
without your intervention. If
it’s a potential carrier of
rabies, you may be better
off, too.
sales
should reflect the abundant
supplies available at this
time, Delano urged retailers
to initiate a balanced
marketing strategy to
feature beef, pork and
poultry to help alleviate the
depressed price situations
faced by producers.
The action by retailers to
push sales of red meat and
poultry would benefit both
meat producers and con
sumers, Delano concluded.
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