Urban Wildlife, Part 2

Urban wildlife: they are wild and they are in your city. But does that mean that you or your loved ones are in danger of contracting the dreaded disease called rabies? Statistically, no. How is it then that articles like “Raccoon inundation a community problem,” that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on July 30, 2008, are allowed to be published in mainstream media without some fact checking or at least an alternative view?

According to the Center for Citizen Media, the principles of and core values of responsible journalism are: accuracy, thoroughness, fairness, transparency, and independence. The author of the above-mentioned article failed at accuracy and fairness, possibly because she only relied on a “vector control” officer for her source of information. Media democracy dictates that I put the record straight. As a former veterinary technician, long-time wildlife rehabilitator, humane educator, and media karma-inducer, let me tell you about vector control officers. Their job is to keep humans safe by controlling critters that that can or might spread germs (Wikipedia). Of course, people are vectors too! Duh.

Historically, the most common and serious known vector is mosquitoes. Think West Nile Virus and malaria. Vector control officers often consider wildlife “pests,” and many county job postings call for vector control officers to have had “pest control” experience. They are exterminators. They do not relocate wildlife. They shoot first, ask questions later.

In order to work with wildlife in the State of California, the Department of Fish and Game requires rehabilitators to take at least one professionally recognized course per year. One such class is on zooneses, diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans (who are also animals). Rabies is considered a zoonotic disease, and raccoons and skunks can be vectors for it. Rabies is spread through the saliva of an infected animal; saliva that enters the bloodstream from bites. According to the Centers for Disease Control, “The number of rabies-related human deaths in the United States has declined from more than 100 annually at the turn of the century to one or two per year in the 1990s.” With a total U.S. population of 305 million people, one or two a year is statistically nil. You have a greater chance of being hit by lightning.

In a map depicting the locations of animal rabies in the State of California in 2007, most cases were bats, and only one raccoon. There were no cases of squirrel rabies. The California Department of Health’s Report on Animal Rabies by County and Species for years 1997-2006 shows not a single case of rabies in squirrels, only three in raccoons, and six cases in humans (mostly from bats and skunks).

Dr. John Pitts, a veterinarian who teaches courses nationwide for teachers, said that biologists, health officials, and veterinarians do not consider squirrels a vector for rabies. Why? Because they are prey animals, low on the food chain. They are eaten by other animals like foxes, coyotes, wild cats, hawks, owls, and snakes. Squirrels are "dead-end hosts," meaning that the rabid animal kills the squirrel before the virus has a chance to infect it. Simply put, small rodents get eaten immediately, as in dead.

My next post will discuss other sad, absurd, or fun-filled and freaky stories about people’s interactions with animals. Stay tuned.

Hawk eating squirrel. Image from google images.

Urban wildlife

A few weeks ago, I read a gardening article in the San Francisco Chronicle that made me shake my head in complete disbelief. You know, the kind of disbelief that ends in WTF?? Anyway, the scenario was this: A lady wrote to ask the columnist how she could "rid" her garden of raccoons and squirrels. The columnist's response was appalling! She should have stuck to roses or weeds. What she said was this: "The raccoon and squirrel population boom you are experiencing is probably due to practices in your neighborhood that are allowing them to multiply more rapidly than usual. Much of the available advice on managing these animals assumes a moderate population, but when the animals are very crowded, the usual advice may not work. What you need to do is try to find out the reasons for the population boom and seek wider help removing them." WTF???

Multiply more rapidly than usual? Does that mean crank them out faster, or crank out more? The reasons for the so-called population boom is that these animals' habitat--normal nesting and feeding areas, has been destroyed. There are more of US and so we see more of "them." Removing "them" does not work.

As a long-time wildlife rehabilitator, former veterinary technician, and head of a large humane society's humane education programs, I am frequently surprised at how little people know about other animals, both domestic and wild. I say "other" animals because humans are also animals. This blog will be about our kinship with other animal species, about the myths and bullshit that have been and continue to be propagated to justify "removing" (a euphemism for killing) them, and I will offer tips for caring for our in-home or urban furry and feathered friends.

Myth buster #1: squirrels and other rodents almost NEVER have or transmit rabies. Want to know why? Stay tuned.