Quote:
Originally Posted by mrsD
We had in our area 2 yrs of rabies in skunks! In a densely populated city no less. My son used to see them emerge from a street drain at his bus stop and often with kits. The kids used to PLAY with them sometimes, as they can be quite docile. The next most common vector is raccoon.
The CDC website has some interesting statistics if you want to look them up. Basically the US has the lowest reported rabies
stats compared to other countries.
In the recent past, the UP of Michigan did a bat survey for the little brown bat, and found 25% caught were carrying rabies.
I never saw stats for the lower penninsula.
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YIKES!!!!! 25%!!!!! The stats I am familiar with put the percentage of rabid bats at 4 or 5%. This is my bat story; we were staying with my daughter and her fiancé who live in a large 3 story drafty old Victorian house in lower Michigan over Christmas. The goofy kids know there is a large bat population in their neighborhood and remove a couple of bats from the house every summer. (Yes, I've preached at them from my "Mama pulpit" to no end on how dangerous this situation is!) There were huge ice dams on the edges of their roof, and on Christmas Eve there was a warm up and a big thaw. All evening huge chunks of ice rumbled and crashed off the roof, even taking out a section of the edge of the roof. That night after going to bed, our dog, who sleeps with us, would NOT settle down...barking, jumping, running all over the place...totally off the rails crazy until 2:00 AM. We couldn't figure out what her problem was. She NEVER before or since has behaved that way. TWO DAYS LATER we're sitting in a booth at a restaurant with really bright lights over the table, and I see two sets of fang marks in my right hand...1+1+1=3!!!!! Bats in house, probably in the attic or the chimney, sliding ice dams and crazy dog, and bite marks. Went right to the E.R. with our story and had the vaccine series...my husband too, just by virtue of the fact that he was sleeping in the same bedroom. You can be bitten by a bat and not know it, and they can bite on the fly. We never found bite marks on my husband, but we did find a bite on the dog's belly. Called the vet and she said the dog would be fine as she had just had her 3 year rabies vaccine the previous July. I've always loved my dog, but I feel now as though I very well may owe her our lives! Eight months later, and I too can still see the bite marks on my hand. Mrs. D. how odd that you should quote statistics from the U.P. of Michigan...I LOVE it up there! We own properties in and around Marquette and plan on retiring there.