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Monday, September 27, 2010

Distemper Plague continues

I've lost count of the number of dead raccoons that I've seen in the woods.
Distemper is raging through the population.

This guy was acting strange and didn't climb a tree immediately as expected.
Its sad to see them sick and acting unnatural.


 And last week this little guy was in one of the stalls in the morning.  
I directed him outside with a broom, but he was pretty wobbly on his feet.
Later I saw the buzzards circling, so he probably died. 
 Sometimes nature is tough.
Only the strong survive.

2 comments:

Carole Barkett said...

Does it spread to other animals too? How sad

tagnrocky said...

Distemper also infects coyotes, foxes, skunks & unvaccinated dogs, but not humans. It is spread when animals have direct contact with body fluids or droppings of an infected animal. I have noticed that the carcasses are not eaten, so most animals must know instinctively not to consume them.