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The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon



 
 
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  #21  
Old September 13th 07, 04:41 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
hal lillywhite
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Posts: 5
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon


wrote:

I wouldn't want to tempt that fate either, but...


The people I know of who have gotten close enough to make them feel
threatened say that the skunk gives a lot of warning before spraying.
Since they noticed such things (in all cases the skunk started dancing
around on its front legs, for example) they avoided getting sprayed.


Don't count on it (as you say, don't tempt that particular fate). The
critter will give the warning before spraying if it thinks it has
time. It has only a limited amount of "chemical warfare agent"
available and doesn't use it lightly. However it can cut loose in a
hurry if it feels the need. And of course the skunk is the sole judge
of what makes it feel the need to fire quickly.

Back on the farm we had machinery sprayed regularly. The skunk could
have moved out of the way had it noticed but often didn't notice until
the machine was right on top of it. The reaction was a quick squirt
of skunk oil and a stinky machine. Also often a tailless skunk since
the machine was often a mower or something similar that would clear
the body but cut off the tail of the animal.

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  #22  
Old September 14th 07, 05:54 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
Ted Mittelstaedt
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Posts: 69
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon


"Lobby Dosser" wrote in message
news:_53Gi.3342$1n1.856@trnddc02...
"David L. Johnson" wrote:

Paul Berg wrote:

Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City Hall,

for
there are a good number of skunks there.


Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or he/she
would have done anything but stop and watch.


Skunks in urban areas are pretty used to people and will not spray
without provocation. Standing watching them is unlikely to provoke them.
If, however, you have a dog with you, you better beat feet! Much more
serious than skunk spray, is the fact that they may be rabid. I'd fear
the bite more than the spray.


Rabies is extremely uncommon in Oregon. The health dept. has
graphs and statistics. I don't believe there has ever been a case of
rabies in a skunk in Oregon. As I recall the most common carriers are
bats, foxes, dogs and cats.

Rabid animals that are in early stages of the disease act like
any other animal - they would avoid a skunk. Rabid animals
in late states of the disease that attacked a skunk would pretty
much ignore the spraying and end up killing the skunk.

Pets are the most common vector of transmission to humans
followed by bats. Any bat bite should automatically be assumed
to have come from a rabid bat. And more importantly, people
who spend a lot of time in places bats frequent - splunkers,
pest removal, chimney sweeps, and such - should have the
rabies vaccination series that is given before exposure.

You do not have to be bitten to contract rabies. There is a
documented case of a woman who died of rabies having never
been bitten. She had rabid bats living in her chimney in her
home.

Ted


  #23  
Old September 14th 07, 07:09 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
Lobby Dosser
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Posts: 274
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon

"Ted Mittelstaedt" wrote:


"Lobby Dosser" wrote in message
news:_53Gi.3342$1n1.856@trnddc02...
"David L. Johnson" wrote:

Paul Berg wrote:

Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City
Hall,

for
there are a good number of skunks there.

Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or
he/she would have done anything but stop and watch.


Skunks in urban areas are pretty used to people and will not spray
without provocation. Standing watching them is unlikely to provoke
them. If, however, you have a dog with you, you better beat feet!
Much more serious than skunk spray, is the fact that they may be
rabid. I'd fear the bite more than the spray.


Rabies is extremely uncommon in Oregon. The health dept. has
graphs and statistics. I don't believe there has ever been a case of
rabies in a skunk in Oregon. As I recall the most common carriers are
bats, foxes, dogs and cats.

Rabid animals that are in early stages of the disease act like
any other animal - they would avoid a skunk. Rabid animals
in late states of the disease that attacked a skunk would pretty
much ignore the spraying and end up killing the skunk.

Pets are the most common vector of transmission to humans
followed by bats. Any bat bite should automatically be assumed
to have come from a rabid bat. And more importantly, people
who spend a lot of time in places bats frequent - splunkers,
pest removal, chimney sweeps, and such - should have the
rabies vaccination series that is given before exposure.

You do not have to be bitten to contract rabies. There is a
documented case of a woman who died of rabies having never
been bitten. She had rabid bats living in her chimney in her
home.

Ted




http://www.ohsu.edu/health/health-topics/topic.cfm?id=9223

[Rabies is a widespread, viral infection of warm-blooded animals. Caused
by a virus in the Rhabdoviridae family, it attacks the nervous system
and, once symptoms develop, it is 100 percent fatal in animals.

In North America, rabies occurs primarily in skunks, raccoons, foxes, and
bats. In some areas, these wild animals infect domestic cats, dogs, and
livestock. In the United States, cats are more likely than dogs to be
rabid.]
  #24  
Old September 14th 07, 11:26 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
Curt
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Posts: 34
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon


"Lobby Dosser" wrote in message
news:QApGi.9142

[Rabies is a widespread, viral infection of warm-blooded animals. Caused
by a virus in the Rhabdoviridae family, it attacks the nervous system
and, once symptoms develop, it is 100 percent fatal in animals.


There was an article last year maybe about a teenage girl who got bit by a
rabid bat, wound up with rabies. They kept her in a coma for like 3weeks, on
Valium or something to stop the seizures, and I think they kept her body
temperature down too IIRC. She survived -- they said it was a total miracle
and she was like one in a million to do that.

Definitely not the disease you want to get.

Curt


  #25  
Old September 14th 07, 11:35 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
Hank Wirtz
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Posts: 908
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon

On Sep 14, 3:26 pm, "Curt" wrote:
"Lobby Dosser" wrote in message

news:QApGi.9142

[Rabies is a widespread, viral infection of warm-blooded animals. Caused
by a virus in the Rhabdoviridae family, it attacks the nervous system
and, once symptoms develop, it is 100 percent fatal in animals.


There was an article last year maybe about a teenage girl who got bit by a
rabid bat, wound up with rabies. They kept her in a coma for like 3weeks, on
Valium or something to stop the seizures, and I think they kept her body
temperature down too IIRC. She survived -- they said it was a total miracle
and she was like one in a million to do that.

Definitely not the disease you want to get.

Curt


Not just one in a million...the only known person to survive rabies
without vaccination, in the world, ever.

  #26  
Old September 15th 07, 11:16 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
Tom Keats
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Posts: 3,193
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon

In article .com,
writes:
On Sep 12, 8:58 pm, "David L. Johnson"
wrote:
Paul Berg wrote:
Poster's comment: The bicyclist must have never biked by City Hall, for
there are a good number of skunks there.


Apparently the poster knew very little at all about skunks, or he/she
would have done anything but stop and watch.


I've had two VERY close encounters with skunks.


I've had many.

They're very sociable, and they enjoy the company
of humans who don't freak them out or startle them,
or run them over with cars.

They're not quite as frenetic as ferrets or otters,
but just as willful. Once you become acquainted with
'em and they understand you're no threat to 'em, they
won't let 'er rip on ya. In fact it's dead easy to
get 'em to eat outa yer hand.

Just don't let them get their claws on ya.

If you befriend a pregnant skunkette, eventually she's
just gotta drop by and show off her offspring to you,
who'll follow behing Mom like boxcars behind a locomotive.
Don't touch them -- just admire and approve of them and
Mom, and give 'em your positive vibes from a respectful
distance. They'll give you their positive vibes too. As
long as you don't hassle them. Skunks are very much like
humans. I guess that's why they're attracted to us.
That, and our garbage.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca
  #27  
Old September 15th 07, 03:39 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
It's Chris
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Posts: 438
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon

I think most people would prefer to encounter a bear than a skunk.

Never seen a skunk while riding, other than flat on the road that is.
Possum, coyotes, snakes, squirrels (not the homicidal variety, thank
goodness), LOTS of deer since moving to SC. Saw a red fox once.

I lost my sense of smell a long time ago, so an unfortunate encounter
would only make others suffer, unless I got it in the eyes, of course.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

  #30  
Old September 17th 07, 04:00 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc,pdx.general,or.politics,or.general
hal lillywhite
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Posts: 5
Default The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon


Peter Cole wrote:

Skunks are frequent visitors to our urban (Boston) yard. On a couple of
occasions I've seen our cat ambling along, side-by-side, with one (he's
a very sociable cat). He's never been sprayed.


Of course if the cat were to threaten the skunk said cat might need
more than its standard bath. Back on the farm it seemed every dog we
had managed to have at least one encounter with a skunk and come back
with the olfactory evidence.

The worst case of this I ever heard of was our neighbors who got a
couple of chichuachuas and made a little doggie door so they could
enter and leave the house at will. One night one of those dogs
tangled with a skunk, then went in and rolled all over the living room
floor trying to get the stuff off. And that was the night after a
brand new white carpet was installed in that living room. I don't
know what the did about it but I'm sure that dog was in the doghouse.

 




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