Recent raccoon attacks in Magnolia have left neighbors reconsidering the fuzzy creatures' cuteness, but a more pressing element is the potential health risks of having raccoons traipsing through neighbors' backyards, according to veterinarian John Kelly of Elliot Bay Animal Hospital.
"As raccoons congregate in a crowded urban environment, they have some specific diseases that put people and pets at a real danger," Kelly said.
Bailey Asterik - a roundworm that could be lethal for humans - and a bacterial infection leptospirosis are carried in raccoon latrines. And with the frequent presence of food and water, properties are not an entirely uncommon location for these latrines.
"Clearly the problem is that the availability of food has created an overpopulation of urban raccoons," Kelly said. "It would be prudent to limit food and allow raccoons to forage in a more natural way."
Fruit dropped from trees, bird feeders, water basins of any kind and pet food all attract raccoons. Furthermore, Recent raccoon attacks in Magnolia have left neighbors reconsidering the fuzzy creatures' cuteness, but a more pressing element is the potential health risks of having raccoons traipsing through neighbors' backyards, according to veterinarian John Kelly of Elliot Bay Animal Hospital.
"As raccoons congregate in a crowded urban environment, they have some specific diseases that put people and pets at a real danger," Kelly said.
Bailey Asterik - a roundworm that could be lethal for humans - and a bacterial infection leptospirosis are carried in raccoon latrines. And with the frequent presence of food and water, properties are not an entirely uncommon location for these latrines.
"Clearly the problem is that the availability of food has created an overpopulation of urban raccoons," Kelly said. "It would be prudent to limit food and allow raccoons to forage in a more natural way."
Fruit dropped from trees, bird feeders, water basins of any kind and pet food all attract raccoons. Furthermore, providing human food and then withdrawing it can increase a raccoon's aggressive behavior. Where there's food, there's territory, and that's a worthy fight to a raccoon. An increase in urban raccoons also means more competition for the food being left out.
"They're just trying to survive out there, and feeding them - which sometimes happens unwittingly - makes it worse," Kelly said, "for the raccoons, the neighbors, their children and their pets."
Though the raccoons, or possibly the same raccoon, exhibited aggressive behavior in the two recent attacks - pulling one dog by the leg through a gap in a fence - it's unlikely either raccoon in the attacks has rabies.
"For raccoons' behavior, in terms of rabies, there is increased aggression, but they'd look clearly much more affected," Kelly said.
Still, Kelly does not advise any mediation from observers when an attack occurs, even though it might be the first instinct. In one of the raccoon attacks against a 4-year-old Maltese, owner Steve Metzner tried to pull his dog, Rosie, away from the raccoon. When that didn't work, he went around the fence, grabbed the raccoon by its neck and threw the animal as far away as he could. By this point, Rosie's right leg was so badly damaged it had to be amputated, upon being taken to Elliot Bay Animal Hospital.
This is an instance where Kelly said safety has to supersede instinct. Raccoons can weigh anywhere from 20 to 60 pounds.
"People really do need to be aware of how serious the problem is.... They are wild animals ... and now they're basically fearless," Kelly said.
In most cases, Kelly said turning a water hose on raccoons seems to have a high success rate, while helping maintain distance from the potential dangers of the situation.
The recent attacks may be surprising to some neighbors, but the combination of a crowded urban environment, competition for food and fewer natural predators lends itself toward more aggressive behavior. "It's not uncommon for attacks to be unprovoked," Kelly said.
"When you have crowded conditions, it changes things. Raccoons have become so accustomed to people, they have no fear; they don't regard humans as any kind of threat," he added.
Anything neighbors can do to eliminate raccoons' access, or attraction, into their yards and their property needs to happen before the problem escalates even more. However, Kelly said he hasn't seen an abnormal increase in raccoon attacks this summer compared to any other summer.
At this point, it might just require some coordination between neighbors.
"The neighborhood needs to come to some kind of agreement and redouble efforts to reduce the human food sources, and they [raccoons] will move on," Kelly said.[[In-content Ad]]
