This is just more proof that vets that work with domestic animals should keep their nose to domestic animals and leave wildlife to people that ork in the wildlife field. I really don't like most vets! This is why.
http://www.aspenskunk.org/myths.htm
http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/infect/ID_Report_April04.pdf
Read the first one for a simple "myth buster." The answers are mostly factual based on the knowledge I otherwise have, except that it seems to be written almost exclusively about the striped skunk only.
The second one is just an article I cited to show how funny that 90% statistic sounds. Next, that vet would likely say that mice (or oppossum for that matter....lol) are the number one cause of rabies in humans or something....lol.
BACK TO ORIGINAL TOPIC: First, most of these critters are crepuscular and NOT nocturnal. This means you will see them out in daylight. Matter of fact, wild animals don't read the rulebooks, so don't be surprised if a healthy one is out looking for food at mid-day. It happens and it doesn't mean they are sick. Second, animals that are no longer truly wild living near people (and off of people's trash/etc.) are no longer fully wild and frequently do not behave that way. Why should they? Are all animals in a zoo sick (well, maybe at the Audobon Zoo, but that is another thread.) No, they aren't, but they still don't act right? ....because they aren't wild! The same is frequently true about that animal living in your trash can and under your house. Use some common sense AND true facts instead of MYTH here, people!
BUT, that doesn't mean a sick acting animal should be left out there alive. That isn't good for us of their population in many cases. BUT, if you corner a raccoon, it will attack even in the best of health if it can't run. Fight or flight. I've been chased by more raccoons that I can count, but none ever acted like they had rabies. I just pushed them too far trying to get in for a good shot. (I hunt and eat them. I've even climbed trees to scare them out of a hole for a good shot, so this is MY fault.) I've also been ran out of a tree by a porcupine for the first time recently. That was cool, but nerve-wracking at the time. Got some neat photos, though!
Worst time was a **** that I thought was dead, but was only wounded, that we chased into tall grass. I came runing out of the grass with the **** on one leg while I tried to kick it off with the other leg and run on both legs at the same time. Haahaa. Anyway, we finished it off pretty quickly and brought it home, boiled it in bay leaves, and pit it on the grill.
I've also been attacked pretty bad by an oppossum that I scared. It was eating rodent chow in my shed when I tried to walk in and grab a bag one night. It reacted just to get out of the door I was blocking. Poor guy. I killed it with a gaff because that was the only thing on hand. I couldn't get out quick enough to let him by, and I was in shorts and openned toed shoes at the time. He wasn't acting sick, but I would have lost that fight if he made it to me first.
KJ