Rabies during badtimes a real threat

[eeyore]

I see this as a real problem, for the person homesteading now and in the Badtimes ahead. The reasons for this falls into several different categories, but it all boils down to the same conclusion. You have to take care of "all" animals that are wild in your area.

I'm not talking about barn cats, i'm talking about abandoned animals, left to make it on their own. They have a survival instinct also, just like us.

I have seen a correlation between "seeing" alot of wild (feral) cats in my area with not seeing alot of quail and squirrels. And have notice the opposite also, the lack of feral cats has increased the amount of small wildlife in the area.

Back on the point is the attached news article brings out another and better reason to control the feral animal population around your place, is to help stop rabies. During badtimes rabies will be a killer of your stock and people.

Killing 200,000 Dogs Doesn't Halt Rabies in Bali
Vaccine Shortage on Indonesian Island Leads to 78 Deaths Since Outbreak Began Two Years Ago

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/...n6736299.shtml

and this one.

http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20100801/NEWS01/100801003/Rabid+dogs+roam+Bali++kill+at+least+78

[EX121]

Interesting link. Especially here in the N.W. with rabies indemic in several species, it won't take much. Feral & regular old house cats are the largest killer of neo-tropical song birds in the US. Just can't breed the killer instinct out of Fluffie.

[slingshot]

Rabies is a problem here and now where I live. Not just the wild animals (mainly skunks,) but with "dump dogs." These dumped animals also include &^% cats (harder to get a bead on.) Town people that no longer want their pets bring them out here and dump them in the country. When the dogs pack up they're a threat to newborn calves, goats, sheep, etc. We shoot everyone on sight. One old lady walking out to her mailbox got bitten several times by a pack of dump dogs. Deputy hunted for them and shot about 2 out of pack, the rest got away. It gets to be easy to shoot them after you've found several stock animals dead or chewed up. Of course, when TSHTF they would be considered food on the hoof and their numbers will go down fast! lol

[crossbow]

Rabies, another reason to stock a few thousand rounds of cheap 22 cal and a good shovel.

[slingshot]

lol crossbow! The "three s's!" Right! "shoot, shovel, & shut up!"

[Matt In Oklahoma]

It has gotten real bad with dumped animals here since the economy tanked and I aint just talking mutts neither. There have been some fine looking animals put out but they have had to meet their demise cause rabies, and dog packs just aint gonna be allowed here. Working on saving a kitten right now but i dunno on a plaus side he had killed a snake, a mouse and a frog in 2 nights and on the down side he will not let us touch him yet though he is getting within a few steps. We have to be able to touch him for inoculations and fixin or he's gonna get rugerized.

[eeyore]

Always liked the idea of barn cats, they will provide their own keep and keep the mouse and snake population down, is a good thing. I have a dog, she provides a warning system and will watch over the kids, never like the idea of keeping a cat in the house.

[RainyDayChick]

Thanks for this reminder. My cats don't go outside, but now I'm getting them all vaccinated against rabies. The vaccine is good for 3 years so it's a good teotwawki prep to do now.

FWIW, since we're talking about rabies, skunks are the chief carriers, and bats are also common carriers.

A few years back, there was a young man in TX who was bit by a bat in his room while he napped in the afternoon. He didn't even realize he'd been bitten. By the time he showed symptoms of rabies, it was too late for treatment and he died. After they analyzed the situation, they realized at one point they'd chased a bat out of his room--that was the only possible way he'd been exposed. This is important to know b/c when he was taken to the hospital, they misdiagnosed him since he had no history of an animal bite--instead they began treating him for mental illness. Maybe they could've helped him if the family had connected the dots for the medical people.

Just nice to know: treatment for humans who may have contracted rabies has improved dramatically. The shot series administered after an animal bite used to be extremely painful, but not any more.

[btjnark]

But how to prepare?

I know that folks who come into regular contact with animals (vets, etc.) can get the rabies vaccine administered before they need it. Anyone know how the rest of us might go about getting vaccinated now?

[DustMusher]

I know that folks who come into regular contact with animals (vets, etc.) can get the rabies vaccine administered before they need it. Anyone know how the rest of us might go about getting vaccinated now?

Contact your County or Municipal health district, and ask about the Human Rabies Preventative Vax. They should be able to tell you how to get the shots. You may have to give a reason why you may be exposed to wild rabies, such as living in a very rural area, an area where rabies is endemic or frequently occuring in the wild population or you are a hunter, exposed to wild life and/or thier blood and body fluids. With a good enough story errrrrr reason of risk, your insurance may even cover the cost.

Also make sure all of your domestic animals have had at least 2 rabies vaxes no more than 1 year apart - using a three year vaccine. There is currently an on going study on how long these dogs who have had the minimum of 2 vax's retain sufficient immunity. They are in thier 6th or 7th year of the study and the dogs in the study are holding sufficent titre levels to be immune to rabies infection. You can look up further information by searching on the Rabies Challenge Study.

As for cats, there is a trend for managing urban feral city cats called TNR -- Trap Neuter Release - which has proven the usefulness of the feral cats in pest control. While the cats are being neutered, they also get one injection of all the core vacccines, including a rabies shot. Studies done on the immunized feral cat colonies seem to show that this one round of vax gives lifetime immunity and that the life of a cat in a stable feral colony aproaches that of a domestic indoor/outdoor cat. No case of rabies has been detectted in any of these feral cats although they have only recieved one dose of the vax.

In high risk areas such as south Texas, the state has done oral rabies vax for wild animals, particularly coyotes and fox. These bait vax are air dropped from a specially set up plane. The staticial occurance of wild rabies dropped sufficientluy that the area of the air drops has been expanded.

Now would be a good time - before a collapse - to push your state health department to begin air drops to help control rabies in the wild animal population where wild rabis is known to exist.

The importance of immunization of pets is to create a buffer of immune animals between wild animals and the human population - this is considered a public health issue.

I hope this answers your questions.

DM

[cabingal3]

we had an experience i can share.me and the mister were out on our property working on building our cabin.
we had an old camp trailer out there at the time where we stored our tools.my husband went to get his tools
there was a mangy cat laying just in the door.one eye poked out.the other almost closed.i tried to feed it water.
it would not lick.well come to find out.it had dry rabies.it could have scratched me.we went on our way working
on getting the cabin built.the cat go up and was acting crazy.flopping on the ground.running i circles.
dumb us.we did not bring a gun.now we always do.hubby went to get our neighbor and he shot it.thank goodness.
sure scary.some lady who lived out in our woods...had cats.she had a heart attack.never came back.her cats were left.

[ThugHunter]

I know that folks who come into regular contact with animals (vets, etc.) can get the rabies vaccine administered before they need it. Anyone know how the rest of us might go about getting vaccinated now?

I've been vaccinated for rabies by the military. I can't figure out how to cut and paste from this iPad, but if you google rabies Afghanistan, you will find stories on a soldier who somehow skipped his vaccination, and died as a result.

[sully429]

this issue is a breakdown of our political system, if there where not regulations in place by these republican and democrat polititions we could deal with this problem right away with organized placing of radiator fluids and other trapping devices jmho

[recon_prepper]

Glad to see this thread as people think I am the mean one when I said if we see a dog or cat we shoot it. I too live in the country and people are constantly leaving animals to fend for themselves at the local 4 way down the road. Eventually they end up in the swamp next door or in the woods scrounging thru neighbors trashcans. This is no way for these animals to live. Better to put them down than to have starving animals roaming around. Then we have part coyote part dog in our area too as the coyotes have bred with dogs that have been dropped off and become wild. So you have a dog that looks like fluffy but is really part coyote and wild. Needless to say people think I am an evil person for shooting all dogs and cats on site but if it really was someones pet they should take better care of them and not let them roam around in the wild.

[eeyore]

I thought i would refresh the thread with new article

Cats kill billions of small animals annually, study reveals

Cats kill billions of small animals every year. The death toll includes birds and small mammals like rodents, according to a new study published by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute today, Jan. 29, 2013, in the journal Nature Communications as "The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States ."

CBS reported, " . . . cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds and between 6.9 billion and 20.7 billion small mammals, such as meadow voles and chipmunks."

Pete Marra is an animal ecologist with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the co-author of the study. He said the number of birds killed by cats could represent a whopping fifteen percent of the entire bird population.

The study took into account both free-range domestic cats, those whose owners permit them outdoors without supervision, and wild, feral cats. Although the domestic cats kill billions of animals estimated at 4-18 birds and 8-21 small mammals annually per cat, the feral cat population kills billions of animals estimated at 23-46 birds and 129-338 small mammals per year, per cat.

The discovery that cats kill small animals is hardly new. Last year, a study of 55 domestic cats outfitted with cameras revealed that the felines kill small animals, hide, swap owners and engage in other interesting behaviors when they are on the prowl. To learn more about the study conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia, check out the video at the top of the page.

Were you surprised to hear that cats kill billions of other animals annually? Would you favor at total ban on cats like the one proposed in New Zealand recently?


Cats kill billions of small animals annually, study reveals - Boston Top News | Examiner.com