Not a pet but sick raccoon; what to do?

Reba

Reba

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We have a sick raccoon in our neighbors back yard. (They are elderly and asked me to take care of the situation.) It can hardly stand up. It stumbles for a short distance, then collapses.

We called Animal Control and DNR hours ago, and had to leave a recorded message. Some from there rerouted our call, and said that the DNR person would call back to get our address. That was an hour ago, and no one has called back much less shown up.

I hate to see the poor thing suffer, and there is also the possibility of rabies.

I set out our humane trap with some bait in hopes of catching and confining the raccoon. It tried to go in the cage but was just to weak and uncoordinated to go in the opening. :(
 
TCS got in touch with DNR. They said due to budget constraints, we have to get rid of the raccoon ourselves. They said that there has been an epidemic of raccoons with distemper, so they can't handle any more.

I hate to watch the poor thing die slowly.

They said we can pay someone to remove it (a critter service), or bury it in our yard!

Wow, that was a big help. :mad:
 
Poor thing is still alive but it's drawing flies. :(
 

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My goodness....would break my heart to see something like this! I would not know exactly what to do either, but if the Racoon is in a lot of pain, then perhaps it's best to put it down. It might have eaten something that was poisoned?....I saw a puppy slowly dieing once when he had ate some rat poison, was a horrible sight.
 
Reba said:
We have a sick raccoon in our neighbors back yard. (They are elderly and asked me to take care of the situation.) It can hardly stand up. It stumbles for a short distance, then collapses.

We called Animal Control and DNR hours ago, and had to leave a recorded message. Some from there rerouted our call, and said that the DNR person would call back to get our address. That was an hour ago, and no one has called back much less shown up.

I hate to see the poor thing suffer, and there is also the possibility of rabies.

I set out our humane trap with some bait in hopes of catching and confining the raccoon. It tried to go in the cage but was just to weak and uncoordinated to go in the opening. :(
Click to expand...

I'll contact Daredevil for you now. She and her partner are certified animal rescuer or similar. they have rescued racoons before.
 
Thanks for giving me a heads up, Jiro.

Reba, it sounds like this raccoon is probably beyond the point of recovery, but one option to try is call a wildlife rehabilitator. There usually are voluntary groups in major cities. I'm not sure where you live, but I did a quick google search.

South Carolina SC - Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Organizations

They may not be able to help it, but they might be able to take it somewhere to have it euthanized. If they don't, call around for vet clinics, and ask if they would euthanize it. There may be a vet nice enough to do it for free.

My partner has actually advised a few people to go ahead and shoot the animal if they live out in the country. Not sure what the rules are within the city, but I'm asking my partner right now for her input on this situation. Will get back to you in a few minutes.
 
My partner got back to me and said to contact Animal Services (which I assume is the same as Animal Control that Reba contacted?) and they usually come and put it down. Correct me if I'm wrong, but Animal Control/Services has not gotten back to Reba, correct? My partner also said that it is very unlikely that a rehabber will be able to do anything other than offer a number (probably Animal Control). Game wardens also are most likely not be able to help since it's "just a raccoon". The raccoon most likely has distemper.

Sorry that I couldn't be much help. :( Sometimes we just can't help them at all other than try to end their suffering.
 
yike.... I'm weak in trying to end their suffering. My friend told me a story when he was on winter hiking, he encountered a poor deer with broken leg, dying on shallow river. He took out a shovel and well...

*slicing neck gesture*
 
Update:

Animal Control actually showed up! She took the raccoon. It will probably be euthanized and disposed of. It has distemper. The Animal Control officer said that there is almost an epidemic of distemper amongst the raccoons this year. She said it happens in cycles. This year is a bad cycle. Distemper is contagious among dogs, cats, and raccoons.

She said that she wouldn't be surprised if we see more of them.
 
:ty:

Thank you to all of you for your quick responses of suggestions and support.
 
Reba said:
Update:

Animal Control actually showed up! She took the raccoon. It will probably be euthanized and disposed of. It has distemper. The Animal Control officer said that there is almost an epidemic of distemper amongst the raccoons this year. She said it happens in cycles. This year is a bad cycle. Distemper is contagious among dogs, cats, and raccoons.

She said that she wouldn't be surprised if we see more of them.
Click to expand...

Glad Animal Control showed up! Hopefully they will end the suffering faster. It would have sucked to know that it's just withering away in an extended period of time. I'm so glad you were proactive!!! :)
 
btw - what's DNR? Department of..... N..... R.....
 
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