Just curious what your guys thoughts are on rabies and how much of a danger you really think it is.

It has to be respected and assumed at times. While I have never had a critter tested I know that I have come up on it more than once in several differnt critters.

A professional is always assuming any zoonotic disease. You can 't see rabies, you can't smell rabies . Watch the video


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Personally I handle everything as if disease is involved. While I do not believe I have come across an infected animal to this point I will not take any chances.

I am just trying to get an idea of what the rest of the NWCO community thinks.

You are on the right track Krausen. My cats died of raccoon round worm, probobly because I skin them in my garage. Coulda been worse....like my dog getting it. (im not a cat person)

lol at flick!!! maybe u aint aLL BAD..........

if you can`t afford, or don`t see the need, for the pre excposure rabies vaccination, #1 your family needs to find a new daddy figure and financial supporter, #2 you have no business disguising as a professional adc man. as no doubt you are taking other real risks and shortcuts. fwiw, everyone knows rabies is only a REAL RISK if you are the guy that catches it. for everyone else it`s a no brainor that it`s no issue at all, totally fabricatd b.s. ........

I once refered to Rabies as the "Al Qaeda" of diseases exactly because of that statement Bob. Those who aren't directly affected think it is B.S.

skunks and bats and raccoons are the culprits in most instances, something adc folks are exposed to constantly, and especially sick acting ones showing themselves in daylight etc. while the threat to joe q public is minimal, to someone in the business of trapping nuiscance animals, the risk is a gillion fold, almost a miracle we all don`t get exposed if we do any amount of bats or skunks, opr on the weast coast coons. luckily the virus is very fragile or there would be lots of dead trapers. interestiungly, according to cdc in atlanta ga. otters have a higher incidence of rabies than coyotes. and the states move `live otters around at will . any bets how many were ever tested for rabies, or even vaccinated? yup, ZERO!

As a general guideline, if I catch an animal in a baited trap, I consider it less of a risk. A sick animal generally wont respond to food. Rabies can take a while to show signs and symptoms, so the food thing isnt in stone.
raccoons and skunks out in a yard in the day time gotta raise an eye brow, because its not normal. Doesnt mean its rabies, but it doesnt mean its not, and im not going to vet school to be able to be able to solve the mystery.
If you catch and release like i do alot of, and you want to keep the population going, you should euthanise animals who show signs of an illness instead of bringing a sick one in to make the rest of them sick.

problwm with skunks is they can be carrirs for years and show no symptoms. and bats you can get it aerosol in attics etc, don`t even need bit. so the only safe way to go is break down and spend 300 bucks or so and get the lifetime vaccination series of three. no different that 3 flu shots a month apart. your insurance mayt even pay for it and sometime the county health dept will cover all or part of it. even if not,. spensd the 300, charge every customer a buck more, whatever it takes. don`t worry about the low ball competition, he`ll be dead eventually. or refer him all your skunk and bat biz if you want to hurry it up some.

LMAO... Bob that is pretty funny.

Rabies is, of course, a real danger but so is lightning and many other things.

The US averages around one rabies death per year. But around 25,000 people get preventive medical treatment after coming into contact with a potentially rabid animal.

Common sense rules. If your job is to deal with nuisance wildlife, pre-exposure treatment is prudent. If trapping is a hobby, it may be a good idea or it may be overkill.

One thing is for sure in my mind. If you get bit by a wild animal, treat it as if it were a rabid animal whether you have had the pre-exposure treatment or not.

The price of the pre-exposure vaccine varies from affordable to ridiculous. I paid $800 but I've heard of it a cheap as $300.

I guess the next question is how do we use rabies information in our sales tactics?
I know of folks who abuse it and scare the living daylights out of the buying public.
I myself try to walk the line of stressing the absolute seriousness of the disease and then laying out the numbers so that I drive home the point of hiring a professional as opposed to the homeowner dealing with wildlife without the homeowner becoming paranoid to the point of buying scared.

[quote]raccoons and skunks out in a yard in the day time gotta raise an eye brow, because its not normal[/quote

Not normal behavior, but it happen on the left coast.....corresponds with your "best time to fish and hunt calendar"....... Two week every year, I get calls about raccoons out in the day.....

Next time you see a coyote in a field in the middle of the day,,,,Have a look.....


I believe Mike from CC got very sick from Pre exposure shots,,,,,,,

Unless someone had been bitten, why bring it up?

It only comes up on bat jobs as IMO information is always given to customers or if asked directly for other species.

Information is a good thing but why only bring it up on bat jobs? Unless there has been physical contact with the animal, rabies is highly unlikely.

Because the question always gets asked and/or I stress the importance of getting the bats out whether I do the job or not.
Maybe I'm wrong but IMO I consider bats to be public health risk #1 in regards to rabies. If you look at the fatalities from rabies in the US 99% are bat strain rabies. Most of those are from contact that the victim did not know occured. Or at least that is my understanding of what I read.
Again, whether I do the job or not bats must be removed from inhabited structures.

you do not have to be bitten by a bat to get rabies. you can get it aerosol in an attic, or cave, or anyplace. i.e. breath it in or on cuts scratches in the eyes etc.