>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]