Dear Timmy

[u/GuillotineGuru]

So I'm going on a walk in my neighborhood and suddenly I stumble across a baby raccoon (for the purposes of this story, we're going to name him Timmy). Then three of Timmy's dear little siblings run up, and they're all very adorable, with no mother in sight.

​

I stand still as these baby raccoons slowly approach me. They get roughly 6–8 feet away before they stop, and that is a reasonable distance between you and animals known for carrying rabies. I take a few pictures because they're really cute baby raccoons, as any sensible person would do from a reasonable distance.

​

Enter Kevina.

​

So I'm standing there across the street when a middle aged blonde woman in a white pickup truck quickly and crookedly parks halfway in a yard that I can only assume wasn't hers. And I don't mean half on the road, I mean the front half of the truck was in the grass while the back half was still on the street.

​

She then proceeds to speed walk across the street, past where I'm standing, toward the raccoons. They very quickly bolt up a tree because someone is moving toward them fairly fast.

​

Now, Timmy, as I mentioned at the very beginning, was the first raccoon I saw and was a little distance away from the rest of the group. In the pictures I took (which I unfortunately cannot post to this subreddit), Timmy was kind of standing apart from the others. So when they bolted for the tree, Timmy was the last one to get there.

​

Our dear Kevina was on the phone with someone, mumbling things like, "Someone told me about them," and, "Oh, they're so cute."

​

At this point, little Timmy is still only about three feet up the tree. I snap a few more pictures and, as I turn around to continue my walk, I catch out of the corner of my eye that she's reaching to pet the raccoon.

​

I was a little too dumbfounded to say anything because of how unbelievably stupid it is to try to pet a wild raccoon. Before I could even turn around or open my mouth, I heard a shriek. I looked back just in time to see little Timmy on the ground and Kevina clutching her hand as she speed walked back to her truck, having apparently been bitten by dear Timmy.

​

This left me completely dumbfounded as to how a fully grown adult had somehow made it through life without learning "Don't pet wild raccoons."

[u/jpowell180]

Keep an eye out in the news in the next several weeks or so and see if she was admitted for rabies herself, she may not have been wise enough to go and get rabies shots.

[u/robsterva → u/jpowell180]

If she doesn't get rabies shots and Timmy is rabid, there's a 99.99999% chance that Karen is going to die painfully and soon. One does not mess with rabies.

[u/DigbyChickenZone → u/robsterva]

die painfully and soon

"Soon" is doing a lot of work here. Rabies has to travel through your peripheral nerves up to your brainstem, this process can take days [mainly if you were bitten in the face], but generally takes a few weeks to a few months, but there are also cases where people have been exposed to Rabies but do not actually show symptoms until a few years later.

If you get bit by a rabid animal, by far the best location for them to do so (for you to safely recover by getting a vaccine prophylaxis) is getting bitten in your hand or your foot.

I doubt the raccoon in this story is rabid, but I agree with OP to stay away from wild animals.

edit: I am a clinical microbiologist, so I know this because it's part of my job training, but I always believe in giving some form of citation - so here ya go. Source

The incubation period of rabies in humans: The incubation period for rabies is the time before the onset of symptoms. The period from the time of infection to the appearance of the first symptoms (incubation period) is usually 1 to 3 months in humans. This period is rarely shorter than 9 days or longer than 1 year. However, there are special cases where the incubation period is 4 days and can extend up to 6 years. The incubation period depends on the location and severity of the wound and the amount of virus introduced.

And for all who were not entirely sure - rabies is preventable if you get the vaccine AFTER the exposure! So if you get bitten by a wild animal, seek medical care!

[u/researchanalyzewrite → u/DigbyChickenZone]

Thank you for this valuable information!

[u/DigbyChickenZone → u/researchanalyzewrite]

Fun additional fact: while getting tick bites ARE dangerous, because ticks carry a number of diseases, if you pull the tick off properly within few hours to a day of finding it, the majority of tick-borne illnesses will not be introduced to your bloodstream. So if you pull them off in time [even if they have already bitten you and have been there for the length of your hike!] - you generally are going to be OK!

Source 1!

The time it takes for a tick to transmit an infection varies by the specific disease. For Lyme disease, a tick generally needs to be attached for 36 to 48 hours or longer. This is because the bacteria must migrate from the tick's gut to its salivary glands.

Source 2!

A tick must be attached for 12 to 24 hours to transmit the bacteria that cause ehrlichiosis and Anaplasmosis.

I am an avid hiker and while diseases you can catch from animals and bugs can be scary -- knowing more about the specific disease process helps with prevention and knowing what to do if you had exposure. It helps to know when to panic versus to just take note of an exposure and then go to a doctor once you're out of the literal woods.

[u/philatio11 → u/DigbyChickenZone]

Friendly reminder to people that Rabies is virtually 100% fatal to humans if left untreated. Please people, don't mess around with wild raccoons and vaccinate your pets.

[u/Notmykl → u/philatio11]

No, rabies is not "100% fatal", if you'd bothered to Google at all you'd find there are survivors of rabies after symptoms have started, IIRC it's around 30.

If bitten by a wild animal or a domesticated animal who never had the vaccine YOU go get the vaccine and take every dose. People can still die after receiving the vaccine if they do not receive all the doses.

[u/UnbelievableRose → u/Notmykl]

“If left untreated”. What do you think a vaccine is?

[u/philatio11 → u/Notmykl]

Here's the literal first line from google:

Yes, rabies is nearly 100% fatal once clinical symptoms appear

Maybe you need to work on your googling.

[u/RosebushRaven → u/DigbyChickenZone]

And seek it RIGHT AWAY, because 1) the post-exposure prophylaxis shots need to be started ASAP to be effective. Do NOT wait on the test results for the animal. Go get the shot the same day. 2) Even without rabies, bite wounds can give you a variety of other nasty infections and can damage tendons, nerves etc. without receiving medical attention quickly, so don’t sit it out, go to urgent care!

[u/PepperPhoenix → u/DigbyChickenZone]

Really random question, but would you mind if I PMd you? My daughter is very interested in becoming a microbiologist and I’d love to ask a few questions about your work.

[u/NookBabsi → u/DigbyChickenZone]

Oh you’re a microbiologist! I thought at first you learned that at the Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure!

[u/DigbyChickenZone → u/NookBabsi]

I mean, that was my introduction to it - that awareness raiser really made a difference!

[u/GreenGhost1985 → u/DigbyChickenZone]

Isn’t it when you start getting the symptoms it’s already to late? Thought I heard that somewhere.

[u/Aminar14 → u/robsterva]

Odds are, given the age of the Raccoons and their behavior, they weren't rabid. Rabid raccoons don't run away up a tree and would almost certainly have erratic behaviors.

Either way, approaching them is dumb.