There is NO RABIES ON LONG ISLAND
Rumours like Anons are very dangerous to our wildlife and lead to much
unnecessary killing of healthy animals.  Nassau and Suffolk are closed
counties ONLY as a precaution.  As state licensed rehabbers and licensed
nuisance trappers we work with the DEC and state and local health departments
constantly.  There has not been a single case of rabies in raccoons on Long
Island yet!. This can be confirmed by a call to either the Region 1 DEC
office, ask for state biologist Steve Lorence or the Suffolk County health
department.
You can even check with Newsday, the largest circulation newspaper that
covers all of Long Island.
What anon saw in Cold Spring labs was DISTEMPER we just finished a terrible 2
year distemper epidemic in our raccoons which killed off 80% of them.
 Distemper  in it's last stages is impossible to tell from rabies, but as
most of us know people can not catch it and this strain of rabies did not
even cross over to canines.
When it first hit many uninformed people like Anon, paniced and some horrible
things were done to raccoons and foxes in our area and since we handle many
of the police calls, we responded to many hung foxes, beheaded raccoons and
litters of babies that had gasoline poured on them and were burned.  One man
even would drop corn on the street at night then run over raccoons and fox.
 All this was done in the name of RABIES which NEVER struck here.  PLEASE
don't do this again!! Mistaken rumours kill and it is not a pretty sight.
Remember, rabies rumours may also affect ferret ownership in areas. Rabies,
when it comes is horrible, but don't make these animals life horrible for NO
REASON!
  Thank you, Gale Putt
 
[Posted in FML issue 0904]