For years everyone thought it would be humans that contracted the disease that would start the zombie apocalypse and destroy the world as we know it. Turns out it would not be humans at all, but the raccoon that would lead the human race to destruction.
OK maybe I am exaggerating a little bit, but these Trash Panda’s are really acting weird. According to the Washington Post, the city of Youngstown, Ohio has had a lot of raccoons displaying signs of a viral disease called distemper.
According to eye witness Robert Coggeshall, a raccoon entered his yard a displayed strange behavior. It would stand up on its hind feet and flash its sharp, white teeth and pink gums while saliva dripped from its mouth. It would then collapse into a comatose-like state. It soon wake up wal around for a bit, then got back up on its hind feet again and repeat the entire display.
The disease typically infects unvaccinated domestic dogs, but can also infect foxes, coyotes and apparently raccoons. Distemper can cause brain damage, which is what likely leads to the raccoons’ fearless behavior around humans. The disease also causes respiratory disease, seizures, immobility and death.
Good news is humans can not be infected. So we are currently safe from this zombie Apocalypse.
“Raccoons are really prone to getting diseases that even among themselves can be devastating to the population,” Geoff Westerfield, a wildlife biologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife, told WKBN-TV.
The disease, he said, stays local and eventually dies off. But to do that, the diseased animals often need to be trapped. Police told WKBN-TV that the 14 infected raccoons, in addition to the one in Coggeshall’s yard, have been put down.
