Note: I am sharing this story as a reminder to never try to pick up a wild animal no matter how good intentioned you may be. Wild animals should be left alone and no one can really determine by a visual inspection that a animal may have rabies or other diseases.
On Saturday, March 14th,2009 I got a call from my son’s best friend’s mom that her husband found a raccoon down the street. She was all teary eyed over the phone and on her way to pick up her husband who was at work and needing to come home because he became sick and that he refused to get medical help and she asked me to step in and try to help the situation.
Robb Russell, Fort White, Florida Using A Control Pole To Handle the Rabies Suspect Raccoon
So I made the phone call to their local health department in Suwanee County, Florida who obviously wanted me to go bring them the coon. Did I forget to mention, they kept it in a outside bathroom and it was tearing the bathroom up.
The coon turned out to be a young juvenile and the bite broke his skin on his right forearm and looked to be healing well, no redness, no swelling and thankfully a good clean looking wound healing well. But good looking or not since rabies runs through saliva and not the blood stream it was necessary to have the coon protected and determine whether the coon had rabies and whether rabies treatment needed to be initiated right away.
So I went over poled the coon, shot it per instructions from the health department and took it to the lab for a necropsy and filled out the incident report with the health department .
The lab results were shipped via FedEx to the state lab in Jacksonville , Florida and thankfully 48 hours later we were all relieved to learn the coon did not have rabies.
The dad, promised he would think twice next time but not really sure if he learned anything today but at least I got the animal tested.
What To Do If Bitten By Any Animal
If you have been bitten or scratched by an animal that might
be rabid, do the following:
• Act promptly, but do not panic. It takes time for the rabies
virus to react in the body.
• Capture and kill the suspect animal, if possible, without
destroying the head.
• Wash the wound immediately and thoroughly with generous
amounts of soap and water. Then apply rubbing alcohol or
a strong solution of water and iodine to the exposed areas
(except for the eyes, of course).
• Contact a physician immediately after this first-aid treatment.
Rabies vaccine and antiserum will then be administered as
required.
About The Author:
Robb Russell provides wildlife,bird and animal services to all of Alachua,Bradford, Columbia,Gilchrist,Union and Suwanee Florida Counties including the towns/cities of Lake City,Fort White,Watertown, Five Points, Lake Butler, Raiford, Worthington Springs,Glen St. Mary, Macclenny, Alachua, Archer, Gainesville,Hawthorne, High Springs, LaCrosse, Micanopy, Newberry, Waldo, Jonesville, Haile Plantation, Bell, Fanning Springs, Trenton,Jasper,Jennings,White Springs,Branford, Live Oak, O’Brien, McAlpin, Wellborn, and Mayo .
Additional Professional Services:
Specializing in the humane removal of: Moles, Squirrels (Gray,Fox and Flying), Bats, Beavers, Birds, Raccoons, Opossums, Skunks, Snakes, Coyotes,Foxes, Snapping Turtles, Nutria, Armadillo,Live Honey Bee Removal and much more
You can reach Robb by phone at 1-352-575-0121 or visit his website.
