>From: [log in to unmask]
>There is NO RABIES ON 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.
 
Anon here.  Thank you for the information.  I had no idea of what distemper
looked like.  Please note, however, that *I* called the authorities (when I
trapped the woodchuck, I brought it to the Ranger station).  The animal
control people know what to do, and I believe in letting them do their job.
 
>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.
 
This is disgusting.  Those people should be prosecuted, for either 1:
endangering the public (for handling a diseased animal incorrectly), 2:
wrongful death of an animal (Massachusetts has laws against killing
animals).
 
=======================================================
Joyce Miller                  [log in to unmask]
Whitehead Institute / M.I.T. Center for Genome Research
617-252-1914 (phone)                 617-252-1902 (FAX)
=======================================================
 
[Posted in FML issue 0907]