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The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon
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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
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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.] |
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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 |
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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. |
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The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon
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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 |
#29
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The Pleasure of Bike Riding in Portland, Oregon
Tom Keats wrote:
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. 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. |
#30
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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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